Tom Wilson

Wilson was born in 1931 to Tom and Fannie Wilson. He grew up in Waco, Texas, where he attended A.J. Moore High School, and was a member of New Hope Baptist Church. Tom was known by his initials, T.B. in his youth. While attending Fisk University, Wilson was invited to Harvard where he became involved with the Harvard New Jazz Society and radio station WHRB.

On graduating from Harvard, he borrowed $900 to set up Transition Records, having a goal in mind of setting up a record label and recording the most advanced jazz musicians of the day.[2] The label did release several albums, including Sun Ra’s Jazz By Sun Ra (or Sun Song) (which was Ra’s first LP, though a second LP of material was unreleased until 1968) and the album Jazz Advance by Cecil Taylor.

His work with Transition Records helped him obtain a job with United Artists Records in 1957.[3] He went on to work as a producer for various jazz labels, including Savoy Records, for whom he again recorded Sun Ra in 1961.[4]

Columbia Records

As a staff producer at Columbia Records Wilson was one of the “midwives” of folk-rock, producing three of Bob Dylan’s key 1960s albums: The Times They Are a-Changin’, Another Side of Bob Dylan, and Bringing It All Back Home, along with the 1965 single, “Like A Rolling Stone.” Wilson also produced the final four tracks Dylan recorded for The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, after he replaced John Hammond as Dylan’s producer in 1963.[5]

Wilson produced Simon & Garfunkel’s 1964 debut LP Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M. which included “The Sounds of Silence”. Seizing on local radio interest in the song in Florida and inspired by the huge success of The Byrds’ folk-rock version of Dylan’s “Mr Tambourine Man”, Wilson took the duo’s original acoustic track and, without Simon or Garfunkel’s knowledge, overdubbed electric instruments, turning the track into a #1 pop hit, helping to launch the folk-rock genre. Simon and Garfunkel, who had already split, re-united after the hit and went on to greater success.

After working with Wilson, both Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel went on to work with another Columbia staff producer, Bob Johnston, who produced several albums for both acts.

Verve Records

In 1966 he signed the Mothers of Invention to Verve Records and was credited as producer on the group’s seminal debut album Freak Out! although it is widely believed that Frank Zappa, the leader of the group, did most of the real production work.

Tom Wilson also produced The Velvet Underground, featuring Lou Reed, John Cale, and Nico. Another of his Verve production credits was The Blues Project’s first studio album Projections (1966) featuring Al Kooper as vocalist and keyboard player. Wilson co-produced the Soft Machine’s eponymous first album with Chas Chandler in 1968.

Wilson died of a heart attack in Los Angeles in 1978.

Achievements

Wilson was an important producer (alongside his contemporaries Phil Spector, George Martin, Brian Wilson and Teo Macero) of the 1960s. He has been said to have had the skill of “putting the right people together for the right projects”.[6]

Wilson made an important contribution to Dylan’s rock and roll sound, producing his first rock recordings on Bringing It All Back Home. In the 1969 Rolling Stone Interview, Jann Wenner asked, “There’s been some articles on Wilson and he says that he’s the one that gave you the rock and roll sound. Is that true?” Dylan: “Did he say that? Well if he said it… [laughs] more power to him.[laughs] He did to a certain extent. That is true. He did. He had a sound in mind”.[7]

Frank Zappa paid this tribute:”Tom Wilson was a great guy. He had vision, you know? And he really stood by us … I remember the first thing that we recorded was ‘Any Way the Wind Blows,’ and that was okay. Then we did ‘Who Are the Brain Police?’ and I saw him through the glass and he was on the phone immediately to New York going, ‘I don’t know!’ Trying to break it to ‘em easy, I guess.” “Wilson was sticking his neck out. He laid his job on the line by producing the album.”[8]

many sources cited

Hendrix…Slap Yourself If You Don’t Know the First Name

James Marshall “Jimi” Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942[1] – September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is often considered to be the greatest electric guitarist in the history of rock music by other musicians and commentators in the industry,[2][3][4] and one of the most important and influential musicians of his era across a range of genres.[5][6][7] After initial success in Europe, he achieved fame in the United States following his 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival. Later, Hendrix headlined the iconic 1969 Woodstock Festival and the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. Hendrix often favored raw overdriven amplifiers with high gain and treble and helped develop the previously undesirable technique of guitar amplifier feedback.[8] Hendrix was one of the musicians who popularized the wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock which he often used to deliver an exaggerated pitch in his solos, particularly with high bends and use of legato based around the pentatonic scale. He was influenced by blues artists such as B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King, and Elmore James,[9][10][11][12] rhythm and blues and soul guitarists Curtis Mayfield, Steve Cropper, as well as by some modern jazz.[13] In 1966, Hendrix, who played and recorded with Little Richard’s band from 1964 to 1965, was quoted as saying, “I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice.”[14]

Carlos Santana has suggested that Hendrix’s music may have been influenced by his partly Native American heritage.[15] As a record producer, Hendrix also broke new ground in using the recording studio as an extension of his musical ideas. He was one of the first to experiment with stereophonic and phasing effects for rock recording.

Hendrix won many of the most prestigious rock music awards in his lifetime, and has been posthumously awarded many more, including being inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. An English Heritage blue plaque was erected in his name on his former residence at Brook Street, London, in September 1997. A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (at 6627 Hollywood Blvd.) was dedicated in 1994. In 2006, his debut US album, Are You Experienced, was inducted into the United States National Recording Registry, and Rolling Stone named Hendrix the top guitarist on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all-time in 2003.[16] He was also the first person inducted into the Native American Music Hall of Fame.

Early life
Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, while his father was stationed at an Army base in Oklahoma. He was named Johnny Allen Hendrix at birth by his mother, 17-year-old Lucille Hendrix née Jeter.[17] She had put him in the temporary care of friends in California (a holiday). On his release from the Army his father, James Allen “Al” Hendrix (1919–2002), took him, and changed his name to James Marshall Hendrix in memory of his deceased brother, Leon Marshall Hendrix.[18][19] He was known as “Buster” to friends and family, from birth.[20] Shortly after, Al reunited with Lucille. He found it hard to gain steady employment after the Second World War, and the family experienced financial hardship. Hendrix had two brothers, Leon and Joseph, and two sisters, Kathy and Pamela. Joseph was born with physical difficulties and at the age of three was given up to state care. His two sisters were both given up at a relatively early age, for care and later adoption, Kathy was born blind and Pamela had some lesser physical difficulties.

Hendrix’s parents divorced when he was nine years old; his mother, who had cirrhosis of the liver, died in 1958 when the state of her liver caused her spleen to rupture.[21] On occasion, he was sent to live with his grandmother in Vancouver, British Columbia because of the unstable household, and his brother Leon was put into temporary welfare care for a period.[22] Hendrix grew up as a shy and sensitive boy, deeply affected by the conditions of poverty and neglect he experienced. In a relatively unusual experience for African Americans of his era, Hendrix’s high school had a relatively equitable ethnic mix of African, European (including Jews), and Asian (Japanese, Filipino and Chinese) Americans.[23] At age 15, around the time his mother died, he acquired his first acoustic guitar for $5 from an acquaintance of his father. This guitar replaced both the broomstick he had been strumming in imitation, and the ukulele which his father had found while cleaning out a garage[24] [25][26] Hendrix learned to play by practicing almost constantly, watching others play, through tips from more experienced players, and by listening to records. In the summer of 1959, his father bought Hendrix a white Supro Ozark, his first electric guitar, but there was no available amplifier. According to fellow Seattle bandmates, he learned most of his acrobatic stage moves, a major part of the blues/R&B tradition, including playing with his teeth and behind his back, from a fellow young musician, Raleigh “Butch” Snipes, guitarist with local band The Sharps. Hendrix himself performed Chuck Berry’s trademark “duck walk” on occasion.[27] Hendrix played in a couple of local bands, occasionally playing outlying gigs in Washington State and at least once over the border in Vancouver, British Columbia.[28]

Hendrix was particularly fond of Elvis Presley, whom he saw perform in Seattle, in 1957.[29] Leon Hendrix claimed, in an early interview, that Little Richard appeared in his Central District neighborhood and shook hands with his brother, Jimi. This is unattested elsewhere and vehemently denied by his father.[30] Hendrix’s early exposure to blues music came from listening to records by Muddy Waters and B.B. King which his father owned.[31] Another early impression came from the 1954 western Johnny Guitar, in which the hero carries no gun but instead wears a guitar slung behind his back.

Hendrix’s first gig was with an unnamed band in the basement of a synagogue, Seattle’s Temple De Hirsch. After too much wild playing and showing off, he was fired between sets. The first formal band he played in was The Velvetones, who performed regularly at the Yesler Terrace Neighborhood House without pay. His flashy style and left-handed playing of a right-handed guitar already made him a standout. He later joined the Rocking Kings, who played professionally at such venues as the Birdland. When his guitar was stolen (after he left it backstage overnight), Al bought him a white Silvertone Danelectro. He painted it red and had “Betty Jean” emblazoned on it – the name of his high school girlfriend.

Hendrix completed junior high at Washington Junior High School with little trouble but did not graduate from Garfield High School. Later he was awarded an honorary diploma, and in the 1990s a bust of Hendrix was placed in the school library. After he became famous in the late 1960s, Hendrix told reporters that he had been expelled from Garfield by racist faculty for holding hands with a white girlfriend in study hall. However, Principal Frank Hanawalt says that it was simply due to poor grades and attendance problems.[32]

In the Army
Hendrix got into trouble with the law twice for riding in stolen cars. He was given a choice between spending two years in prison or joining the Army. Hendrix chose the latter and enlisted on May 31, 1961. After completing boot camp, he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division and stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky. His commanding officers and fellow soldiers considered him to be a sub-par soldier: he slept while on duty, had little regard for regulations, required constant supervision, and showed no skill as a marksman. For these reasons, his commanding officers submitted a request that Hendrix be discharged from the military after he had served only one year. Hendrix did not object when the opportunity to leave arose.[33] He would later tell reporters that he received a medical discharge after breaking his ankle during his 26th parachute jump. The 2005 biography Room Full of Mirrors by Charles Cross claims that Hendrix faked being homosexual — claiming to have fallen in love with a fellow soldier — in order to be discharged, but has never produced credible evidence to support this contention.

At the post recreation center, Hendrix met fellow soldier and bass player Billy Cox, and forged a loyal friendship that he later called upon from April 1969 until Billy’s breakdown shortly before Hendrix’ death. The two would often play with other musicians at venues both on and off the post as a loosely organized band there named the Casuals. After they moved to Nashville, upon learning there was already an established (“White”) band called the Casuals, they amended their title to the ‘King Kasuals.’[34] As a celebrity in the UK, Hendrix only mentioned his military service in three published interviews; One in 1967 for the film See My Music Talking (much later released under the title Experience), which was intended for TV to promote his recently released Axis: Bold as Love LP, in which he spoke very briefly of his first parachuting experience: “…once you get out there everything is so quiet, all you hear is the breezes-s-s-s…” This comment has later been used to claim that he was saying that this was one of the sources of his “spacy” guitar sound. The second and third mentions of his military experience were in interviews for Melody Maker in 1967 and 1969, where he spoke of his dislike of the army.[35] In interviews in the US, Hendrix almost never mentioned it, and when Dick Cavett brought it up in his TV interview, Hendrix’s only response was to verify that he had been based at Fort Campbell.[36]

Early career
After his Army discharge, Hendrix and army friend Billy Cox moved to nearby Clarksville, Tennessee, where they established “The Casuals” on a less casual footing. He had already seen Butch Snipes play with his teeth in Seattle and now Alphonso ‘Baby Boo’ Young the other guitarist in the band was featuring this.[37] Not to be upstaged, it was then that Hendrix learned to play with his teeth properly, according to Hendrix himself: “… the idea of doing that came to me in a town in Tennessee. Down there you have to play with your teeth or else you get shot. There’s a trail of broken teeth all over the stage…”[38] They played mainly in low-paying gigs at obscure venues. The band eventually moved to Nashville’s Jefferson Street, the traditional heart of Nashville’s black community and home to a lively rhythm and blues scene.[39] There, according to Cox and Larry Lee – who replaced Alphonso Young on guitar – they were basically the house band at “Club del Morocco”.[40] Hendrix and Cox shared a flat above “Joyce’s House Of Glamour”.[41] Hendrix’s girlfriend at this time was Joyce Lucas. Bill ‘Hoss’ Allen’s memory of Hendrix’s supposed participation in a session with Billy Cox in November 1962, which he cut Hendrix’s contribution due to his over the top playing, has now been called into question; a suggestion has been made that he may have confused this with a later 1965 session by Frank Howard And The Commanders that Hendrix participated in.[42] In December 1962, Hendrix visited Vancouver, where he sometimes lived as a child with his grandmother. It has been reported that while there he performed with future members of the Motown band Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers, including Tommy Chong (of later Cheech & Chong fame).[43] Chong, however, disputes this ever happened and that any such appearance is a product of Taylor’s “imagination”.[44] In early 1963, Hendrix returned to the South. For the next two years, Hendrix made a living with the King Kasuals and on the Theatre Owners’ Booking Association (TOBA) or Chitlin’ Circuit otherwise known as “Tough On Black Asses,” performing in black-oriented venues throughout the South with Bob Fisher and the Bonnevilles,[45] and in backing bands for various soul, R&B, and blues musicians, including Chuck Jackson, Slim Harpo, Tommy Tucker, Sam Cooke, and Jackie Wilson. The Chitlin’ Circuit was an important phase of Hendrix’s career, since the refinement of his style and blues roots occurred there.

Frustrated by his experiences in the South, Hendrix decided to try his luck in New York City and in January 1964 moved into the Hotel Theresa in Harlem,[46] where he soon befriended Lithofayne Pridgeon (known as “Faye”,[47] who became his girlfriend) and the Allen twins, Arthur and Albert (now known as Taharqa and Tunde-Ra Aleem). The Allen twins became friends and kept Hendrix out of trouble in New York. The twins also performed as backup singers (under the name Ghetto Fighters) on some of his recordings, most notably the song “Freedom”. Pridgeon, a Harlem native with connections throughout the area’s music scene, provided Hendrix with shelter, support, and encouragement. In February 1964, Hendrix won first prize in the Apollo Theater amateur contest. Hoping to land a gig, Hendrix made the club circuit and sat in with various bands. Eventually, Hendrix was offered the guitarist position with the Isley Brothers’ back-up band and he readily accepted. Hendrix’ first studio recording occurred in March 1964, when the Isley Brothers, with Hendrix as a member of the band, recorded the two-part single “Testify”. Hendrix then went on tour with the Isley Brothers. “Testify” was released in June 1964, but did not make an impact on the charts. After touring as a member of the Isley Brothers until summer or fall 1964,[48][49][50][51][52][53] Hendrix grew dissatisfied and left the band in Nashville. There, he found work with the tour’s MC “Gorgeous” George Odell. On March 1, 1964, Hendrix (then calling himself Maurice James) began recording and performing with Little Richard. Hendrix would later (1966) say, “I want to do with my guitar what Little Richard does with his voice.”[54] During a stop in Los Angeles while touring with Little Richard in 1965, Hendrix played a session for Rosa Lee Brooks on her single “My Diary”. This was his first recorded involvement with Arthur Lee of the band “Love”.[55][56] While in L.A., he also played on the session for Little Richard’s final single for Vee-Jay, “I Don’t Know What You’ve Got, But It’s Got Me”.[57] He later made his first recorded TV appearance on Nashville’s Channel 5 “Night Train” with “The Royal Company” backing up “Buddy and Stacy” on “Shotgun”.[58] Hendrix clashed with Richard, over tardiness, wardrobe, and, above all, Hendrix’s stage antics.[59] On tour with Richard they shared billing a couple of times with Ike and Tina Turner. It has been suggested that he left Richard and played with Ike & Tina briefly before returning to Richard, but there is no firm evidence to support this, and this is emphatically denied by Tina. Months later, he was either fired or he left after missing the tour bus in Washington, D.C.[60] He then re-joined the Isley Brothers in the summer of 1965 and recorded a second single with them, “Move Over and Let Me Dance” backed with “Have You Ever Been Disappointed” (1965 Atlantic 45-2303).

Later in 1965, Hendrix joined a New York–based R&B band, Curtis Knight and the Squires, after meeting Knight in the lobby of the Hotel America, off Times Square, where both men were living at the time.[61] he performed on and off with them for eight months.[62] In October 1965, Hendrix recorded a single with Curtis Knight, “How Would You Feel” backed with “Welcome Home” (1966 RSVP 1120) and on October 15 he signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin, receiving $1 and 1% royalty. While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which caused considerable problems for Hendrix later on in his career. The legal dispute has continued to the present day.[63] (Several songs (and demos) from the 1965–1966 Curtis Knight recording sessions, deemed not worth releasing at the time, were marketed as “Jimi Hendrix” recordings after he became famous.)[64] Aside from Curtis Knight and the Squires, Hendrix then toured for two months with Joey Dee and the Starliters.

In between performing with Curtis Knight in 1966, Hendrix toured and recorded with King Curtis. Hendrix recorded the two-part single “Help Me (Get the Feeling)” with Ray Sharpe and the King Curtis Orchestra (1966 Atco 45-6402) (the backing track was subsequently overdubbed by other vocalists with different lyrics and released as new songs).[65] Later in 1966, Hendrix also recorded with Lonnie Youngblood, a saxophone player who occasionally performed with Curtis Knight. The sessions produced two singles for Youngblood: “Go Go Shoes”/”Go Go Place” (Fairmount F-1002) and “Soul Food (That’s What I Like)”/”Goodbye Bessie Mae” (Fairmount F-1022). Additionally, singles for other artists came out of the sessions: The Icemen’s “(My Girl) She’s a Fox”/ “(I Wonder) What It Takes” (1966 SAMAR S-111) and Jimmy Norman’s “You’re Only Hurting Yourself”/”That Little Old Groove Maker” (1966 SAMAR S-112). As with the King Curtis recordings, backing tracks and alternate takes for the Youngblood sessions would be overdubbed and otherwise manipulated to create many “new” tracks.[66] (Many Youngblood tracks without any Hendrix involvement would later be marketed as “Jimi Hendrix” recordings).[67] Also around this time in 1966, Hendrix got his first composer credits for two instrumentals “Hornets Nest” and “Knock Yourself Out”, released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single (1966 RSVP 1124).[68]

Hendrix, now going by the name Jimmy James, formed his own band, The Blue Flame, composed of Randy Palmer (bass), Danny Casey (drums), a 15-year-old guitarist who played slide and rhythm named Randy Wolfe, and the occasional stand in June 1966.[69]

Since there were two musicians named “Randy” in the group, Hendrix dubbed Wolfe “Randy California” (as he had recently moved from there to New York City) and Palmer (a Tejano) “Randy Texas”. Randy California would later co-found the band Spirit with his stepfather, drummer Ed Cassidy. It was around this time that Hendrix’s only (officially claimed and partly recognized)[citation needed] daughter Tamika was conceived with Diana Carpenter (also known as Regina Jackson), a teenage runaway and prostitute that he briefly stayed with. She was acknowledged indirectly as his daughter by both Hendrix, when Diana started a paternity suit prior to his death, and unofficially after Hendrix’s death by his father Al.[citation needed] Her claim has not been recognized by the US courts where, after death, she may not have a claim on his estate even if she could legally prove he was her father, unless recognized previously as such by him or the courts.[70]

Hendrix and his new band played at several places in New York, but their primary venue was a residency at the Cafe Wha? on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The street runs along “Washington (Square) Park” which appeared in at least two of Hendrix’s songs. Their last concerts were at the Cafe au Go Go, as John Hammond Jr.’s backing group, billed as “The Blue Flame”. Singer-guitarist Ellen McIlwaine and guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter also claim to have briefly worked with Hendrix in this period.[71]

The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Main article: The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Early in 1966 at the Cheetah Club on Broadway at 53rd Street, Linda Keith, then girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, befriended Hendrix and recommended him to Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham and later, producer Seymour Stein. Neither man took a liking to Hendrix’s music, and they both passed. She then referred Hendrix to Chas Chandler, who was ending his tenure as bassist in The Animals and looking for talent to manage and produce. Chandler was enamored with the song “Hey Joe” and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist.

Impressed with Hendrix’s version, Chandler brought him to London and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. Chandler then helped Hendrix form a new band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, both English musicians. Shortly before the Experience was formed, Chandler introduced Hendrix to Pete Townshend and to Eric Clapton, who had only recently helped put together Cream. At Chandler’s request, Cream let Hendrix join them on stage for a jam on the song “Killing Floor”. Hendrix and Clapton remained friends up until Hendrix’s death. The first night he arrived in London, he began a relationship with Kathy Etchingham that lasted until February 1969. She later wrote a well received autobiographical book about their relationship and the sixties London scene in general.[72]

Hendrix sometimes had a camp sense of humor, specifically with the song “Purple Haze”. A mondegreen had appeared, in which the line “‘Scuse me while I kiss the sky” was misheard as “‘Scuse me while I kiss this guy.” In a few performances, Hendrix humorously used this, deliberately singing “kiss this guy” while pointing to Mitch or Noel, as he did at Monterey.[73] In the Woodstock DVD he deliberately points to the sky at this point,[74] to make it clear. A volume of misheard lyrics has been published, using this mondegreen itself as the title, with Hendrix on the cover.

UK success
After his enthusiastically received performance at France’s No. 1 venue, the Olympia theatre in Paris on the Johnny Hallyday tour, an on-stage jam with Cream, a showcase gig at the newly-opened, pop-celebrity oriented nightclub Bag O’Nails and the all important appearances on the top UK TV pop shows “Ready Steady Go!” and the BBC’s “Top of the Pops”, word of Hendrix spread throughout the London music community in late 1966. His showmanship and virtuosity made instant fans of reigning guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, as well as Brian Jones and members of The Beatles and The Who, whose managers signed Hendrix to their new record label, Track Records.

Hendrix’s first single was a cover of “Hey Joe”, using Tim Rose’s uniquely slower arrangement of the song including his addition of a female backing chorus. Backing this first 1966 “Experience” single was Hendrix’s first songwriting effort, “Stone Free”. Further success came in early 1967 with “Purple Haze” which featured the “Hendrix chord” and “The Wind Cries Mary”. The three singles were all UK Top 10 hits and were also popular internationally including Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (though failed to sell when released later in the US). Onstage, Hendrix was also making an impression with fiery renditions of the B.B. King hit “Rock Me Baby” and a fast version of Howlin’ Wolf’s hit “Killing Floor”.

Are You Experienced
Main article: Are You Experienced
The first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, Are You Experienced, was released in the United Kingdom on May 12, 1967 and shortly thereafter internationally, outside of USA and Canada. It contained none of the previously released (outside North America) singles or their B sides (“Hey Joe/Stone Free”, “Purple Haze/51st Anniversary” and “The Wind Cries Mary/Highway Chile”). Only The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band prevented Are You Experienced from reaching No. 1 on the UK charts.

At this time, the Experience extensively toured the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. This allowed Hendrix to develop his stage presence, which reached a high point on March 31, 1967, when, booked to appear as one of the opening acts on the Walker Brothers farewell tour, he set his guitar on fire at the end of his first performance, as a publicity stunt. This guitar has now been identified as the “Zappa guitar” (previously thought to have been from Miami), which has been partly refurbished. Later, as part of this press promotion campaign, there were articles about Rank Theatre management warning him to “tone down” his “suggestive” stage act, with Chandler stating that the group would not compromise regardless.[75] On June 4, 1967, the Experience played their last show in England, at London’s Saville Theatre, before heading off to America. The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album had just been released on June 1 and two Beatles (Paul McCartney and George Harrison) were in attendance, along with a roll call of other UK rock stardom, including: Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton, Spencer Davis, Jack Bruce, and pop singer Lulu. Hendrix chose to open the show with his own rendition of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, rehearsed only minutes before taking the stage, much to McCartney’s astonishment and delight.[76]

While on tour in Sweden in 1967, Hendrix jammed with the duo Hansson & Karlsson, and later opened several concerts with their song “Tax Free”, also recording a cover of it during the Electric Ladyland sessions.[77] Just one example of his strong connection with that country, he played there frequently throughout his career, and his only son James Daniel Sundquist was born there in 1969 to a Swede, Eva Sundquist, recognized as such by the Swedish courts and paid a settlement by Experience Hendrix LLC.[78] He wrote a poem to a woman there (probably Sundquist). Sundquist had anonymously sent Hendrix roses on each of his opening nights in Stockholm, only revealing herself after his third visit in January 1969, and conceiving Daniel with him. He also had an expatriate musician friend who lived there, “King” George Clemmons, who played backup at one concert and socialized with him on at least two of his visits there. Hendrix also dedicated songs to the Swedish-based Vietnam deserters organization in 1969.[79]

Months later, Reprise Records released the US and Canadian version of Are You Experienced with a new cover by Karl Ferris, removing “Red House”, “Remember” and “Can You See Me” to make room for the first three single A-sides. Where the (Rest of the World) album kicked off with “Foxy Lady”, the US and Canadian one started with “Purple Haze”. Both versions offered a startling introduction to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the album was a blueprint for what had become possible on an electric guitar, basically recorded on four tracks, mixed into mono and only modified at this point by a “fuzz” pedal, reverb and a small bit of the experimental “Octavia” pedal on “Purple Haze”, produced by Roger Meyer in consultation with Hendrix. A remix using the mostly mono backing tracks with the guitar and vocal overdubs separated and occasionally panned to create a stereo mix was also released, only in the US and Canada.

US success
Although very popular internationally at this time, the Experience had yet to crack America, their first single there failed to sell.[80] Their chance came when Paul McCartney recommended the group to the organizers of the Monterey International Pop Festival. This proved to be a great opportunity for Hendrix, not only because of the large audience present at the event, but also because of the many journalists covering the event that wrote about him. The performances were filmed by D. A. Pennebaker and later shown in some movie theaters around the country in early 1969 as the concert documentary Monterey Pop, which immortalized Hendrix’s iconic burning and smashing of his guitar at the finale of his performance.

The opening song was Hendrix’s very fast arrangement of Howlin’ Wolf’s 1965 R&B hit “Killing Floor”. He played this frequently from late 1965 through 1968, usually as the opener to his shows. The Monterey performance included an equally lively rendition of B.B. King’s 1964 R&B hit “Rock Me Baby”, Tim Rose’s “Hey Joe” and Bob Dylan’s 1965 Pop hit “Like a Rolling Stone”. The set ended with The Troggs “Wild Thing” and Hendrix repeating the act that had boosted his profile in the UK (and internationally) with him burning his guitar on stage, then smashing it to bits and tossing pieces out to the audience. This show finally brought Hendrix to the notice of the US public. A large chunk of this guitar was on display at the Experience Music Project in Seattle, along with the other psychedelically painted Stratocaster that Hendrix smashed (but didn’t burn) at his farewell concert in England before he left for the US and Monterey.

At the time Hendrix was playing sets in the Scene club in NYC in July 1967, he met Frank Zappa, whose Mothers of Invention were playing the adjacent Garrick Theater, and he was reportedly fascinated by Zappa’s recently-purchased wah-wah pedal.[81] Hendrix immediately bought one from Manny’s and starting using it right away on the sessions for both sides of his new single, and slightly later, on several jams he played on at Ed Chalpin’s studio.[82]

Following the festival, the Experience played a series of concerts at Bill Graham’s Fillmore replacing the original headliners Jefferson Airplane at the top of the bill. It was at this time that Hendrix became acquainted with future musical collaborator Stephen Stills, and re-acquainted himself with Buddy Miles who introduced Hendrix to his future partner – Devon Wilson. She had a turbulent on/off relationship with him, right up to the night of his death, and was the only one of his women to record with him. She died only six months after Hendrix under mysterious circumstances, apparently falling from an upper window in the Chelsea Hotel.

Following this very successful West Coast introduction, which also included two open air concerts (one of them a free concert in the “Pan handle” of Golden Gate Park) and a concert at the Whisky a Go Go, they were booked as one of the opening acts for pop group The Monkees on their first American tour. The Monkees asked for Hendrix because they were fans,[83] but their (mostly early teens) audience sometimes did not warm to their act, and he quit the tour after a few dates. Chas Chandler later admitted that being thrown off the Monkees tour was engineered to gain maximum media impact and publicity for Hendrix,[84] similar to that gained from the manufactured Rank Theatre’s “indecency” “dispute” on the earlier UK Walker Brothers tour. At the time, a story circulated claiming that Hendrix was removed from the tour because of complaints made by the Daughters of the American Revolution that his stage conduct was “lewd and indecent”. Australian journalist Lillian Roxon, accompanying the tour, concocted the story.

Meanwhile in Western Europe, where Hendrix was also appreciated for his authentic blues renditions as well as his hit singles there, and was often recognized for his avant-garde musical ideas, his wild-man image and musical gimmickry (such as playing the guitar with his teeth and behind his back) had faded; but they later plagued him in the US following Monterey. He became frustrated by the US media and audience when they concentrated on his stage tricks and most well known songs.

Axis: Bold as Love
Main article: Axis: Bold as Love
The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s second 1967 album, Axis: Bold as Love was his first recording made with a view to a stereo release and was where he first experimented with this format, using much panning and other stereo effects. It continued the style established by Are You Experienced, but showcased a profound use of melody, along with his well-known technical virtuosity, with tracks such as “Little Wing” and “If 6 Was 9″. The opening track, “EXP”, featured a stereo effect in which a ruckus of sound emanating from Hendrix’s guitar appeared to revolve around the listener, fading out into the distance from the right channel, then returning in on the left. This album marked the first time Hendrix recorded the whole album with his guitar tuned down one half-step, to E♭, which he used exclusively thereafter and was his first to feature the wah-wah pedal and on ‘Bold As Love’ was probably the first record to feature the stereo phasing technique.

A mishap almost delayed the album’s pre-Christmas release: Hendrix lost the master tape of side one of the LP, leaving it in the back seat of a London taxi. With the release deadline looming, Hendrix, Chas Chandler and engineer Eddie Kramer had to re-mix most of side one in an overnight session, but they couldn’t match the lost mix of “If 6 was 9″. It was only saved by the discovery that bassist Noel Redding had a copy of it on tape, which had to be flattened as it was wrinkled.[85] Hendrix was disappointed that the album had to be finished so quickly and felt it could have been better, given more time. He was also somewhat disappointed with Track Records British designers who created the album’s cover art. He remarked that it would have been more appropriate if the cover had highlighted his American-Indian heritage. The cover art depicts Hendrix and his Experience bandmates as the various forms of Vishnu, incorporating a painting of them by Roger Law (from a photo-portrait by Karl Ferris).[86]

The album was released in the UK near the end of their first headlining tour there, after which the pace briefly settled down a bit for a Christmas break. In January 1968 the group went to Sweden for a short tour, and after the first show Hendrix, reportedly after drinking and according to Hendrix his drink being spiked, went berserk and smashed up his hotel room in a rage, injuring his hand and culminating in his arrest. Then on the 6th in Denmark his famous hat was stolen.[87] The rest of the tour was uneventful, though Hendrix had to spend some time in Sweden waiting for his trial and eventual large fine.[88]

Electric Ladyland
Main article: Electric Ladyland
Hendrix’s third recording, the double album Electric Ladyland (1968), was a departure from previous efforts. Following his third and penultimate French concert at the Paris Olympia, Hendrix flew to the US to start his first tour there, and after two months returned to his Electric Ladyland project at the newly opened Record Plant Studios with engineers Eddie Kramer and Gary Kellgren and initially Chas Chandler as producer.

As the album’s recording progressed, Chas Chandler became so frustrated with Hendrix’s perfectionism and with various friends and hangers-on milling about the studio that he decided to sever his professional relationship with Hendrix. Chandler’s professional and musical education was very business-oriented, and it taught him that songs should be recorded in a matter of hours, and written with a view to releasing them as singles. His influence over the Experience’s first two albums is clear in light of the facts that very few of the tracks are more than four minutes long, that both albums were recorded in a short time, and that most of the songs conformed to the structure of a typical pop song. However, as Hendrix began developing his own vision and started to assert more control over the artistic process in the studio, Chandler decided to move to other opportunities and ceded overall control to Hendrix. Chandler’s departure had a clear impact on the artistic direction that the recording took.

Hendrix began experimenting with different combinations of musicians and instruments, and modern electronic effects. For example, Dave Mason, Chris Wood, and Steve Winwood from the band Traffic, drummer Buddy Miles and former Bob Dylan organist Al Kooper, among others, were all involved in the recording sessions. This was one of the other reasons that Chandler cited as precipitating his departure. He described how Hendrix went from a disciplined recording regimen to an erratic schedule, which often saw him beginning recording sessions in the middle of the night and with any number of hangers-on.

Chandler also expressed exasperation at the number of times Hendrix would insist on re-recording particular tracks; the song “Gypsy Eyes” was reportedly recorded 43 times. This was also frustrating for bassist Noel Redding, who would often leave the studio to calm himself, only to return and find that Hendrix had recorded the bass parts himself during Redding’s absence. The effects of these events can clearly be identified in the album’s musical style. On a purely superficial level, the tracks no longer conformed to the standard pop song format, often lacked easily identifiable patterns or sections, and would sometimes lack even a recognizable melody. More particularly, however, the themes that the songs addressed, and the music that Hendrix recorded, went far beyond anything he had previously achieved.

Electric Ladyland includes a number of compositions and arrangements for which Hendrix is still remembered. These include “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” as well as Hendrix’s rendition of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”.

Throughout the four years of his fame, Hendrix often appeared at impromptu jams with various musicians, such as B.B. King.[89] In March 1968, Jim Morrison of The Doors joined Hendrix onstage at New York’s Scene Club. Albums of this Electric Ladyland-era bootleg recording were released under various titles, some falsely claiming the presence of Johnny Winter, who has denied, several times, being a participant at that jam session, and to ever having met Morrison.[90]

Breakup of Jimi Hendrix Experience
After a year based in the US, Hendrix temporarily moved back to London and into his girlfriend Kathy Etchingham’s rented Brook Street flat, next door to the Handel House Museum, in the West End of London. During this time The Jimi Hendrix Experience toured Scandinavia, Germany, and included a final French concert. And later performed two sold-out concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall on February 18 and February 24, 1969, which were the last European appearances of this line-up of the “Jimi Hendrix Experience”. A Gold and Goldstein-produced film titled Experience was also recorded at these two shows, which, according to Experience Hendrix LLC, “Elements of these recordings are sure to be utilized when the official release of this material is finally made.”[91]

Noel Redding felt increasingly frustrated by the fact that he was not playing his original and favored instrument, the guitar. In 1968, he decided to form his own band Fat Mattress, which would sometimes open for the Experience (Hendrix would jokingly refer to them as “Thin Pillow”). Redding and Hendrix would begin seeing less and less of each other, which also had an effect in the studio, with Hendrix playing many of the bass parts on Electric Ladyland.

Fruitless recording sessions at Olympic in London; Olmstead and the Record Plant in New York that ended on April 9, which only produced a remake of Stone Free for a possible single release, were the last to feature Redding. Jimi then flew Billy Cox up to New York and started recording and rehearsing with him on April 21 as a replacement for Noel.[92]

In a recorded interview by Nancy Carter on June 15 at his hotel in Los Angeles, Hendrix announced that he had been recording with Cox and that he would be replacing Noel as bass player in “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”.[93]

The last Experience concert took place on June 29, 1969 at Barry Fey’s Denver Pop Festival, a three-day event held at Denver’s Mile High Stadium that was marked by police firing tear gas into the audience as they played “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”. The band escaped from the venue in the back of a rental truck which was partly crushed by fans trying to escape the tear gas. The next day, Noel Redding announced that he had quit the Experience.[94]

Gypsy Sun and Rainbows
After the departure of Noel Redding from the group, Hendrix rented the eight-bedroom ‘Ashokan House’ in the hamlet of Boiceville[95] near Woodstock in upstate New York, where he spent some time through the summer of 1969. Manager Michael Jeffery, who had a house in Woodstock, arranged the stay, with hopes that the respite would produce a new album. To replace Redding as bassist, Hendrix had been rehearsing and recording with Billy Cox, his old and trusted Army buddy, since at least April 21.[96]

Woodstock

Mitchell was unavailable to help fulfill Hendrix’s commitments at this time, which include his first appearance on US TV – on the Dick Cavett show – where he was backed by the studio orchestra, and an appearance on The Tonight Show where he appeared with his new bass player Billy Cox, and session drummer Ed Shaughnessy sitting in for Mitchell.[97] Mitchell returned in time for the Woodstock music festival on August 18, 1969, for which—in an effort to expand his sound beyond the power trio format—Hendrix then added rhythm guitarist Larry Lee (another old friend from his R&B days), and percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez.

On the day he dubbed this hired group “Gypsy Sun And Rainbows’[98] they recorded some jam-based material such as “Jam Back at the House”, “Shokan Sunrise” (posthumous title for untitled jam), “Villanova Junction”, and early renditions of the funk-driven centerpieces of Hendrix’s post-Experience sound: “Machine Gun”, “Message to Love” and “Izabella”.

Bad weather and logistical problems caused long delays, so that Hendrix did not appear on stage until Monday morning. By this time, the audience (which had peaked at over 500,000 people) had been reduced to, at most, 180,000, many of whom merely waited to catch a glimpse of Hendrix before leaving. Festival MC Chip Monck introduced the band as “The Jimi Hendrix Experience”, but Hendrix quickly corrected this to “Gypsy Sun and Rainbows, for short it’s nothin’ but ‘A Band Of’ Gypsies” and launched into a two hour set, the longest of his career. As well as the two percussionists, the performance notably featured Larry Lee performing two songs and Lee sometimes soloing while Hendrix played rhythm in places. Most of this has been edited out of the officially released recordings, including Lee’s two songs, reducing the sound to basically a three piece. The concert was relatively free of the technical difficulties that frequently plagued Hendrix’s performances, although one of his guitar strings snapped while performing “Red House” (he kept playing regardless). The band, unused to playing large audiences and exhausted after being up all night, could not always keep up with Hendrix’s pace, but in spite of this the guitarist managed to deliver a memorable performance, climaxing with his highly-regarded rendition of the The Star-Spangled Banner,[99] a solo improvisation which is now regarded as a special symbol of the 1960s era.[100]

This expanded band did not last long. After the Woodstock festival they appeared on only two more occasions. The first was a street benefit in Harlem where, in a scenario similar to the festival, most of the audience had left and only a fraction remained by the time Hendrix took the stage. Within seconds of Hendrix arriving at the site two youths had stolen his guitar from the back seat of his car, although it was later recovered. The band’s only other appearance was at the Salvation club in Greenwich Village, New York. After some studio recordings, Hendrix disbanded the group. Some of this band’s recordings can be heard on the MCA Records box set The Jimi Hendrix Experience and on South Saturn Delta. Their final work together was a session on September 6.[101] Hendrix’s September 9 appearance on TV’s Dick Cavett Show, backed by Cox, Mitchell and Juma Sultan, was credited as the “Jimi Hendrix Experience”.[102]

Band of Gypsys
In 1969, a contractual dispute arose in relation to an agreement Hendrix had entered into with producer Ed Chalpin in 1965.[103] The resolution for the dispute included Hendrix having to record an LP of new material for Chalpin company, which wouldn’t feature the Experience band, and wouldn’t be associated with the Experience band name. In addition, Chalpin was granted 2% of profits from Hendrix’s back catalog sold in US. For the agreed upon album, Hendrix chose to record Band of Gypsys, a live album.[104]

Along with Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles (formerly with Wilson Pickett and The Electric Flag) with whom he had been jamming together since September, Hendrix wrote and rehearsed material which they then performed at a series of four concerts over two nights, New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day at Fillmore East. The second night produced the material for the Band Of Gypsys LP, which was produced by Hendrix (under the name “Heaven Research”).

Since the Band of Gypsys project, there have been rumors that Hendrix formed the band with black musicians (Cox and Miles both had black ethnicity.) instead of white ones (Mitchell and Redding both had white ethnicity.) in order to court the black sector of the music-buying public. Such ideas ignored the fact that Jimi was already popular in the black community,[105] and the fact that Hendrix cautioned against racial barriers in music, saying: “Black kids think the music is white now, which it isn’t. The argument is not between black and white; that’s just another game the establishment set up to turn us against one another…”[104] This message echoes the theme of social harmony which the Band of Gypsys presented in We Gotta Live Together.

The Band of Gypsys LP is additionally notable in that it is the only official completely live LP released in Hendrix’s lifetime. The band also released a single “Stepping Stone” which was quickly withdrawn, and recorded several studio songs slated for Hendrix’s future LP. In 1999, the tapes from the four Fillmore concerts were remastered and additional tracks and edits were released as Live at the Fillmore East. Litigation with Chalpin ended in 2007 after the “singularly uncredible witness” was fined nearly $900,000 for failure to abide by contractual limitations and failure to pay Experience Hendrix L.L.C. its court ordered royalties.[106]

On the 26th and 27 January 1970, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding flew into New York and signed contracts with Jeffery for the upcoming Jimi Hendrix Experience tour. The next day, a second and final Band of Gypsys appearance occurred at a twelve-act show in Madison Square Garden which was a benefit for the massively popular anti-Vietnam War Moratorium Committee, titled the “Winter Festival for Peace”. Similar to Woodstock, set delays forced Hendrix to take the stage at an inopportune 3 a.m., only this time he was obviously in no shape to play. He played a dismal rendition of “Who Knows” before snapping a vulgar response at a woman who shouted a request for “Foxy Lady”. He lasted halfway through a second song, then simply stopped playing, telling the audience: “That’s what happens when earth fucks with space—never forget that”.[107] He then sat down on the drum riser for a minute and then walked off stage. Various unverifiable assertions have been proffered to explain this bizarre scene. Buddy Miles claimed that manager Michael Jeffery dosed Hendrix with LSD in an effort to sabotage the current band and bring about the return of the Experience lineup.[108] But no one else closely associated with Hendrix agrees with his statement.

Cry of Love tour
A week after the botched Band of Gypsys show Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding gave an interview to Rolling Stone for the upcoming tour dates as a reunited Jimi Hendrix Experience. But Redding never even got to rehearse, as Hendrix just continued to work with Billy Cox. Noel was only told that he wasn’t going to be playing during the rehearsals before the tour began. Fans refer to this final “Jimi Hendrix Experience” lineup as the “Cry of Love” band, named after the tour to distinguish it from the original. Billy Cox has several times commented on this, to make it clear that this lineup considered themselves “The Jimi Hendrix Experience” before they even went on tour and that any other title is bogus. All billing, adverts, tickets etc. on the tour used “Jimi Hendrix Experience” or occasionally, as previously, just “Jimi Hendrix”.

Two of Hendrix’s later recordings were the lead guitar parts on “Old Times Good Times” from Stephen Stills hit eponymous album (1970), and on “The Everlasting First” from Arthur Lee’s new incarnation of Love’s, not so successful and aptly named LP False Start both tracks were recorded with these old friends on a fleeting and unexplained visit to London in March 1970, following Kathy Etchingham’s marriage.[109]

He spent the next four months of 1970 recording during the week and playing live on the weekends. “The Cry of Love” tour, designed to earn money to repay the studio loans, temper Hendrix’s mounting back taxes and legal fees, and fund the production of his next album, tentatively titled First Rays of the New Rising Sun. The tour began in April at the LA Forum, was structured to accommodate this pattern. Performances on this tour featured Hendrix, Cox, and Mitchell playing new material alongside extended versions of older recordings. The USA leg of the tour included 30 performances and ended at Honolulu, Hawaii on August 1, 1970. A number of these shows were recorded and produced some of Hendrix’s most memorable live performances.

Electric Lady Studios
In 1968, Hendrix and Jeffery had invested jointly in the purchase of the Generation Club in Greenwich Village. Their initial plans to reopen the club were scrapped when the pair decided that the investment would serve them much better as a recording studio. The studio fees for the lengthy Electric Ladyland sessions were astronomical, and Hendrix was constantly in search of a recording environment that suited him. In August 1970, Electric Lady Studios was opened in New York.

Designed by architect and acoustician John Storyk, the studio was made specifically for Hendrix, with round windows and a machine capable of generating ambient lighting in a myriad of colors. It was designed to have a relaxing feel to encourage Hendrix’s creativity, but at the same time provide a professional recording atmosphere. Engineer Eddie Kramer upheld this by refusing to allow any drug use during session work.

Hendrix spent only two and a half months recording in Electric Lady, most of which took place while the final phases of construction were still ongoing. Following a recording/dubbing session on August 26, an opening party was held later that day.[110] He then boarded an Air India flight for London with Billy Cox, joining Mitch Mitchell to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival.

European tour
The group then commenced the European leg of the tour. Longing for his new studio and creative outlets, the tour was a commitment that the already restless Hendrix was not eager to perform. In Aarhus, Hendrix abandoned his show after only two songs, remarking: “I’ve been dead a long time”. In the months before Hendrix’s death, a British music paper alleged that Hendrix had plans to join the band Emerson, Lake & Palmer.[111] On September 6, 1970, his final concert performance, Hendrix was greeted with some booing and jeering by fans at the Isle of Fehmarn Festival in Germany, due to his non-appearance at the end of the previous nights bill, (due to the torrential rain and risk of electrocution). Shortly after he left the stage, in a riot-like atmosphere reminiscent of the Altamont Festival, it went up in flames during the first stage appearance of Ton Steine Scherben. Billy Cox quit the tour and headed home to Memphis, Tennessee, reportedly suffering paranoia after taking LSD or being given it unknowingly, earlier in the tour.[112]

Hendrix returned to London, where he reportedly spoke to Chas Chandler, Eric Burdon, and others about leaving his manager, Michael Jeffery. Hendrix’s last public performance was an informal jam at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho with Burdon and his latest band, War.

Death

The two buildings which composed the Samarkand Hotel. Hendrix died in one of the two basement apartments which were accessed from one of the two exterior steps in front of the buildings.Early on September 18, 1970, Jimi Hendrix died in London under circumstances which have never been fully explained. He had spent the latter part of the previous evening at a party and was picked up by girlfriend Monika Dannemann and driven to her flat at the Samarkand Hotel, 22 Lansdowne Crescent, Notting Hill. According to the estimated time of death, from autopsy data and statements by friends about the evening of September 17, he would have died within a few hours after midnight, though no precise estimate was made at the original inquest.[113]

Dannemann claimed in her original testimony that after they returned to her lodgings the evening before, Hendrix, unknown to her, had taken nine of her prescribed Vesperax sleeping pills. The normal medical dose was half a tablet, but Hendrix was unfamiliar with this very strong German brand. According to surgeon John Bannister, the doctor who initially attended to him, Hendrix had asphyxiated in his own vomit, mainly red wine which had filled his airways, as the autopsy was to show.[114] For years, Dannemann publicly claimed that she had only discovered that her lover was unconscious and unresponsive sometime after 9:00 am, that Hendrix was alive when placed in the back of the ambulance after half past eleven, and that she rode with him on the way to the hospital; the latter two are denied by the ambulance crew. However, Dannemann’s comments about that morning were often contradictory, varying from interview to interview.[115] Police and ambulance statements reveal that there was no one but Hendrix in the flat when they arrived at 11:27 am, and not only was he dead when they arrived on the scene, but was fully clothed and had been dead for some time.[116]

Lyrics written by Hendrix, which were found in the apartment, led Eric Burdon to make a premature announcement on the BBC-TV program 24 Hours that he believed Hendrix had committed suicide. Burdon often claimed he had been telephoned by Dannemann after she discovered that Jimi failed to wake up.[117]

Following a libel case brought in 1996 by Hendrix’s long-term English girlfriend Kathy Etchingham, Monika Dannemann committed suicide, though her later lover, Uli Jon Roth, has made accusations of foul play.[118]

A former Animals “roadie,” James “Tappy” Wright, published a book in May 2009 claiming Hendrix’s manager, Mike Jeffery, admitted to him that he had Hendrix killed because the rock star wanted to end his management contract.[119] This claim was given added weight when John Bannister, the doctor who attended the scene of his death in 1970 stated publicly in 2009 “The amount of wine that was over him was just extraordinary. Not only was it saturated right through his hair and shirt but his lungs and stomach were absolutely full of wine. I have never seen so much wine. We had a sucker that you put down into his trachea, the entrance to his lungs and to the whole of the back of his throat. We kept sucking him out and it kept surging and surging. He had already vomited up masses of red wine and I would have thought there was half a bottle of wine in his hair. He had really drowned in a massive amount of red wine.”[120] This testimony is contradicted by everyone else involved, the ambulance drivers and Dr Donald Teare etc.[121][citation needed] Bannister according to the Daily Mail was struck off for “fraudlent conduct”, thus making his testimony questionable.[122]

Fashion
Hendrix was well known for his unique sense of fashion and wardrobe and his Afro hairstyle. A set of hair curlers was one of the few possessions that traveled with him to England when he was first discovered in 1966. When his first advance check arrived, Hendrix immediately took to the streets of London in search of clothing at famous boutiques like I Was Lord Kitchener’s Valet and Granny Takes a Trip, both of which specialized in vintage fashion. He purchased at least two army dress uniform jackets, including an old Hussar’s jacket adorned with tasseled ropes. A group of policemen once ordered him to remove a Royal Veterinary Corps dress jacket, saying it was an offense to the men who had worn it.[123]

Many photographs of Hendrix show him wearing various scarves, rings, medallions, and brooches, and in the early days Hendrix occasionally wore badges (pins or buttons) that professed his support for the hippie movement or his fascination with Bob Dylan. He initially wore a dark suit and plain silk shirts that progressively became “louder” and more psychedelically patterned. He later favored a bright blue velvet suit, then a bright red one, antique military dress jackets, a very broadly striped suit, psychedelically patterned silk jackets, various exotic waistcoats and brightly colored flared trousers. At Monterey, he wore a hand-painted silk jacket by Chris Jagger (Mick Jagger’s brother) and a bright pink feather boa. In late 1967 he started to wear a wide-brimmed Western style hat (brand name “The Westerner”).[124] It was adorned with a narrow purple band and various brooches, as shown in the original Jimi Plays Monterey film. This hat was stolen in 1968, and replaced later with another, crowned variously with a longer purple scarf, a star-like brooch in front and a set of silver bangles, sometimes with an angled feather, though he went hatless for protracted periods after this.

From late 1968 he began tying scarves to one leg and one arm, and in mid-1969 he gave up the hat permanently for bandanas. He started wearing increasingly fantastic custom-made stage costume with long trailing sleeves, culminating in his African-styled “Fire Angel” outfit that he wore throughout most of his final “Cry Of Love” tour, until it began to come apart during the Isle of Wight concert. He appeared in this outfit only once more (in just the jacket) at the disastrous concert in Aarhus, Denmark. His only non-work-related vacation was a two-week trip to Morocco in July 1969 with friends Colette Mimram, Stella Benabou (Douglas), the ex-wife of Alan Douglas (record producer) and Deering Howe. Upon his return Hendrix decorated his Greenwich Village apartment with Moroccan objets d’art and fabrics. Mimram and Benabou created some of Hendrix’s most memorable later attire, the shortened blue kimono-style jacket that he wore in three TV appearances and the white fringed jacket, ornamented with blue glass beads, he wore at the Woodstock Festival.[125]

Drug use
Hendrix is widely known for and associated with the use of psychedelic drugs, most notably lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), as were many other famous musicians and celebrities of that time. He supposedly had never taken psychedelic drugs until the night he met Linda Keith, but smoked cannabis and drank alcohol previously. Amphetamine is also recorded as being used by Hendrix during tours. Hendrix was notorious among friends and bandmates for sometimes becoming angry and violent when he drank too much alcohol.[126] Kathy Etchingham spoke of an incident that took place in a London pub in which an intoxicated Hendrix beat her with a public telephone handset because he thought she was calling another man on the pay phone.[127] Carmen Borrero, another girlfriend, says she required stitches after he hit her with a bottle after drinking and becoming jealous.[128]

Alcohol was also cited as the cause of Hendrix’s 1968 rampage that badly damaged a Stockholm hotel room and led to his arrest. Paul Caruso’s friendship with Hendrix ended in 1970 when Hendrix, while under the influence, punched him and accused him of stealing from him.[129]

On May 3, 1969, while checking through Canadian customs at Toronto Pearson International Airport, Hendrix was arrested when small amounts of heroin and hashish were found in his luggage. After being released on a $10,000 cash bail and being required to appear in court at a later date, the Experience rushed to make their concert at Maple Leaf Gardens. Hendrix opened the show with the greeting, “We want you to forget about today, about yesterday, and about tomorrow. Tonight we’re gonna create a whole new world.” In its review of the concert, The Globe and Mail printed:

“[H]is guitar became the voice of the Rave New World. It screamed, hissed, and shrieked with the ferocity of a thousand dentist drills plunged into a single tooth.”[130]

In his trial defense, Hendrix claimed that that the drugs were slipped into his bag by a fan without his knowledge. He was acquitted.[131]

A point of controversy exists around whether Hendrix’s alleged use of heroin was a contributing factor to his death. There was, however, no mention of heroin at the autopsy. Later untrue statements about special toxicology reports were only released to quiet the unfounded speculation that Hendrix had overdosed on heroin, as was the statement about the lack of needle marks, although no-one had specifically accused him of injecting and this has never been a point of contention.[132]

Gravesite

The original gravestone of Jimi Hendrix, incorporated into the granite base of his memorial on which it is intended that a large brass statue will be installed.

The memorial gravesite of Jimi Hendrix in Renton, WashingtonHendrix’s body was returned to Seattle and he was interred in Greenwood Memorial Park, Renton, Washington. As the popularity of Hendrix and his music grew over the decades following his death, concerns began to mount over fans damaging the adjoining graves at Greenwood, and the growing, extended Hendrix family further prompted his father to create an expanded memorial site separate from other burial sites in the park. The memorial was announced in late 1999, but Al Hendrix’s deteriorating health led to delays and he died two months before its scheduled completion in 2002. Later that year, the remains of Jimi Hendrix, his father Al Hendrix, and grandmother Nora Rose Moore Hendrix were moved to the new site. The headstone contains a depiction of a Fender Stratocaster guitar, the instrument he was most famed for using —– although the guitar is shown right-side up, rather than the way Hendrix played it, upside down (left-handed).

The memorial is a granite dome supported by three pillars under which Jimi Hendrix is interred. Hendrix’s autograph is inscribed at the base of each pillar, while two stepped entrances and one ramped entrance provide access to the dome’s center where the original Stratocaster adorned headstone has been incorporated into a statue pedestal. A granite sundial complete with brass gnomon adjoins the dome, along with over 50 family plots that surround the central structure, half of which are currently adorned with raised granite headstones.

To date, the memorial remains incomplete: brass accents for the dome and a large brass statue of Hendrix were announced as being under construction in Italy, but since 2002, no information as to the status of the project has been revealed to the public. A second memorial statue of Jimi playing a Stratocaster stands near the corner of Broadway and Pine Streets in Seattle.

In May 2006 Seattle honored the music, artistry and legacy of Jimi Hendrix with the naming of a new park near Seattle’s historic Colman School in the heart of the Central District.[133]

Recordings

Hendrix’s recordings were originally released in North America on Reprise Records (a division of Warner Communications) from 1967 until 1993 and were released in Europe and Japan on Polydor Records. (Because it was recorded to settle a legal dispute, the Band of Gypsys album was released on Capitol Records in North America.) British releases of his first three albums were first issued on the independent label Track Records, which was originally created by the managers of The Who. The label was later absorbed by Polydor.

In 1994, the Hendrix family prevailed in in its long standing legal attempt to gain control of Jimi’s music, and subsequently licensed the recordings to MCA Records (later Universal Music) through the family-run company Experience Hendrix. In August 2009, Experience Hendrix announced that it had entered a new licensing agreement with Sony Music Entertainment’s Legacy Recordings division which would take effect in 2010.

Unfinished work and posthumous releases
Reports that Hendrix’s tapes for a concept album Black Gold had been stolen and lost from the London flat, are wrong. Hendrix gave those tapes to Mitch Mitchell at the Isle of Wight Festival three weeks prior to his death.[134] They are now in the possession of Experience Hendrix LLC.

Hendrix’s unfinished album was partly released as the 1971 title The Cry of Love. The album was well received and charted in several countries. However, the album’s producers, Mitchell and Kramer, would later complain that they were unable to make use of all the tracks they wanted. This was due to some tracks being used for 1971’s Rainbow Bridge and 1972’s War Heroes for contractual reasons.

Material from the The Cry of Love album was re-released in 1997 as First Rays of the New Rising Sun, along with the rest of the tracks that Mitchell and Kramer wanted to include.

Many of Hendrix’s personal items, tapes, and many pages of lyrics and poems are now in the hands of private collectors and have attracted considerable sums at the occasional auctions.[135] These materials surfaced after two employees, under the instructions of Mike Jeffery, removed items from Hendrix’s Greenwich Village apartment following his death.

In 2010, Legacy Recordings and Experience Hendrix LLC will launch the 2010 Jimi Hendrix Catalog Project, starting with the release of Valleys of Neptune in March.[136] Legacy is also planning to release deluxe CD/DVD editions of the Hendrix albums Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland and First Rays of the New Rising Sun, as well as reissuing the 1968 compilation album Smash Hits.[136]

Legacy
Hendrix synthesized many styles in creating his musical voice and his guitar style was unique, later to be abundantly imitated by others. Despite his hectic touring schedule and notorious perfectionism, he was a prolific recording artist and left behind more than 300 unreleased recordings.

His career and untimely death has grouped him with Janis Joplin and Jim Morrison as one of contemporary music’s tragic “three J’s”, iconic 1960s rock stars that suffered drug-related deaths at age 27 within months of each other, leaving legacies in death that have eclipsed the popularity and influence they experienced during their lifetimes. The other rock star who died in that period at age 27 was Brian Jones.

Musically, Hendrix did much to further the development of the electric guitar’s repertoire, establishing it as a unique sonic source, rather than merely an amplified version of the acoustic guitar. Likewise, his feedback, wah-wah and fuzz-laden soloing moved guitar distortion well beyond mere novelty, incorporating other effects pedals and units specifically designed for him by his sound technician Roger Mayer (such as the Octavia and Univibe) with dramatic results.

Hendrix affected popular music with similar profundity; along with earlier bands such as The Who and Cream, he established a sonically heavy yet technically proficient bent to rock music as a whole, significantly furthering the development of hard rock and paving the way for heavy metal. He took blues to another level. His music has also had a great influence on funk and the development of funk rock especially through the guitarists Ernie Isley of The Isley Brothers and Eddie Hazel of Funkadelic, Prince and Jesse Johnson of The Time. His influence even extends to many hip hop artists, including Questlove, Chuck D of Public Enemy, Ice-T (who covered “Hey Joe” with his heavy metal band Body Count), El-P and Wyclef Jean. Miles Davis was also deeply impressed by Hendrix and compared his improvisational skills with those of saxophonist John Coltrane,[137] and Davis would later want guitarists in his bands to emulate Hendrix.[138] Hendrix was ranked number 3 on VH1’s 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock behind Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. Hendrix was ranked number 3 on VH1’s list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock N’ Roll, behind the Rolling Stones and the Beatles. He has been voted by Rolling Stone, Guitar World, and a number of other magazines and polls as the best electric guitarist of all time.

Guitar World’s readers voted six of Hendrix’s solos among the top “100 Greatest” of all time: “Purple Haze” (70), “The Star-Spangled Banner” (52), “Machine Gun” (32), “Little Wing” (18), “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” (11) and “All Along the Watchtower (5).[139]

In 1992, Hendrix was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Financial legacy

When Al Hendrix died of congestive heart failure in 2002, his will stipulated that Experience Hendrix, LLC was to exist as a trust designed to distribute profits to a list of Hendrix family beneficiaries. Upon his death, it was revealed that Al had signed a revision to his will which removed Hendrix’s brother Leon Hendrix as a beneficiary. A 2004 probate lawsuit merged Leon’s challenge to the will with charges from other Hendrix family beneficiaries that Janie Hendrix, Al’s adopted daughter, was improperly handling the company finances. The suit argued that Janie and a cousin of Jimi Hendrix (Robert Hendrix) paid themselves exorbitant salaries and covered their own mortgages and personal expenses from the company’s coffers while the beneficiaries went without payment and the Hendrix gravesite in Renton went uncompleted.

Janie and Robert’s defense was that the company was not profitable yet, and that their salary and benefits were justified given the work that they put into running the company. Leon charged that Janie bilked Al Hendrix, then old and frail, into signing the revised will, and sought to have the previous will reinstated.[140] The defense argued that Al willingly removed Leon from his will because of Leon’s problems with alcohol and gambling. In early 2005, presiding judge Jeffrey Ramsdell handed down a ruling that left the final will intact, but replaced Janie and Robert’s role at the financial helm of Experience Hendrix with an independent trustee. To date, the gravesite of Jimi Hendrix remains incomplete.

The Jimi Hendrix Foundation
In 1987, Leon Hendrix commissioned the James (Jimi) Marshall Hendrix Foundation. This foundation is based in Renton, Washington. Though run for some time by Jimi’s brother Leon Hendrix, in August, 2006 Leon asked a child-hood friend of Jimi Hendrix – James (Jimmy) Williams, to take control of the Foundation.[141]

Guitar legacy
Fender Stratocaster
Hendrix owned and used a variety of guitars during his career. His guitar of choice however, and the instrument that became most associated with him, was the Fender Stratocaster, or “Strat”. He started playing Stratocasters in 1966 and thereafter used it almost exclusively for his stage performances and recordings.

Many other leading guitarists, including Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Ritchie Blackmore and Eric Clapton, also played Stratocasters. Hendrix bought many Strats and gave some away as gifts. The original sunburst Stratocaster that Hendrix burnt at the Astoria in 1967, and that he kept as a souvenir, was given to Frank Zappa by a Hendrix roadie at the 1968 Miami Pop Festival. Zappa assumed it was the one Hendrix had played there.[142]

Hendrix used right-handed guitars, turned upside-down for left-hand playing, and re-strung so that the heavier strings were in their standard position at the top of the neck.[143] This had an important effect on his guitar sound: because of the slant of the Strat’s bridge pickup, his lowest string had a bright sound while his highest string had a mellow sound, the opposite of the Stratocaster’s intended design.[144]

Heavy use of the tremolo bar throughout his career caused the drawback of frequent losses in tuning; Hendrix would often ask the audience for a “minute to tune up” several times during the same concert.

In addition to Fender Stratocasters, Hendrix was also photographed playing Jazzmasters, Duosonics, two different Gibson Flying Vs, a Gibson Les Paul, three Gibson SGs, a Gretsch Corvette he used at the 1967 Curtis Knight sessions and miming with a right strung Fender Jaguar on the “Top Of The Pop’s” TV show, as well as several other brands.[145] Hendrix borrowed a Fender Telecaster from Noel Redding to record “Hey Joe” and “Purple Haze”,[146] used a white Gibson SG Custom for his performances on the Dick Cavett show in the summer of 1969, and the Isle of Wight film shows him playing his second Gibson Flying V. While Jimi had previously owned a Flying V that he’d painted with a psychedelic design, the Flying V used at the Isle of Wight was a unique custom left-handed guitar with gold plated hardware, a bound fingerboard and “split-diamond” fret markers that were not found on other 60s-era Flying Vs.

On December 4, 2006, one of Hendrix’s 1968 Fender Stratocaster guitars with a sunburst design was sold at a Christie’s auction for USD$168,000.[147]

Amplifiers and effects
Hendrix was a catalyst in the development of modern guitar effects pedals. His high volume and use of feedback required robust and powerful amplifiers. For the first few rehearsals he used Vox and Fender amplifiers. Sitting in with Cream, Hendrix played through a new range of high-powered guitar amps being made by London drummer turned audio engineer Jim Marshall, and they proved perfect for his needs. Along with the Stratocaster, the Marshall stack and amplifiers were crucial in shaping his heavily overdriven sound, enabling him to master the use of feedback as a musical effect, and he created a “definitive vocabulary for rock guitar.”[148]

While his mainstays were the Arbiter Fuzz Face and a Vox wah-wah pedal,[148] Hendrix experimented with guitar effects as well. He had a fruitful association with engineer Roger Mayer who later went on to make the Axis fuzz unit, the Octavia octave doubler and several other devices based on units Mayer had created or tweaked for Hendrix. The Japanese-made Univibe, designed to simulate the modulation effects of the rotating Leslie speaker, provided a rich phasing sound with a speed control pedal, and is heard on the Band of Gypsys track “Machine Gun,” which highlights use of the univibe, octavia and fuzz face pedals.

The Hendrix sound combined high volume and high power, feedback manipulation, and a range of cutting-edge guitar effects. He was also known for his trick playing, which included playing with only his right (fretting) hand and using his teeth or playing behind his back and between his legs. Hendrix had large hands and characteristically used his thumb to fret bass notes, leaving his fingers free to play melodic fills on top, so he could play lead and rhythm parts simultaneously. This technique was made easier by his Stratocaster’s 7.25″ fingerboard radius (more rounded than the modern standard 9.5″[149]). A clear demonstration of this thumb technique can be witnessed in the Woodstock video; during the song Red House there are excellent closeups of Hendrix’s fretting hand.

many sources cited

Ben Hardy

http://www.blackglobalbikers.com/BEN_HARDY.HTML

Ben Hardy is the man behind the most of the Easy Rider bike construction. The man responsible for co-ordinating the bike building effort is Cliff Vaughs (BlackMan). Cliff worked with Fonda to get the right people to do the job on the bikes. For instance, Ben Hardy (brother Ben) added his thing by gathering all of the parts neccesary for the job.

Ben and Cliff retained the early cradle frame (48-56) and took it to Buchanan’s frame shop for a rake of 45 degrees. The neck was cut off and repositioned so that the forks make an angel with a vertical line of 45 degrees. The glide forks had to be lengthened 12 inches to compensate for the wild rake.

Ben Hardy’s Shop at 1168 E. Florence in Los Angeles Stock glide risers are bolted to the ‘57 top triple tree and fitted with a set of A.E.E. triple trees which in turn have dogbones mounted on them and a set of 13″ highriser bars. Fonda and Vaughs told Dean Lanza (the Dean of bike painters) to make the bike look like Capt. America’s Shield… and it does !!

These are the creations of Ben Hardy & Cliff Vaughn little or no credit has been given to them. The Famous Captain America Bike & The Billy Bike, true works of Art! These are the Old School Chopper Builders….

Howard Jones Leave Killswitch Engage!

From http://www.killswitchengage.com/

New York, NY: Last week, it was announced that Killswitch Engage vocalist Howard Jones had to unexpectedly leave the band’s current headlining tour, leading to a flurry of rumors and questions about the status of the tour and the band. The band has further issued the following statement addressing the matter, saying: “It became overwhelmingly obvious to all of us around Howard that he is in no condition to be on tour right now and that he needed to get off the road and get himself better. It’s a personal matter and while we understand everyone’s curiosity and concern for Howard and the band, we appreciate everyone respecting Howard’s privacy at this time.”

Longtime friend Phil Labonte of All That Remains was able to fill in and help out the band for a few shows and it appears as though he will be filling in for the remainder of the tour, which runs through March. KsE endured and survived a similar situation in the past, where guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz was forced to sit out a tour due to a back injury. KsE also said, “We seriously considered cancelling the tour since we don’t want to give fans that paid good money anything less than KsE at full-strength. But after trying a few shows with Phil, and after feeling the love and support that we were getting from the crowd, it became increasingly apparent to us that the shows came across as fun and unique, and the fans seemed to be enjoying it. We quickly realized that we had to keep going and that we couldn’t possibly stop.” Refunds are available for any fans that have already purchased tickets, but as the band said, this tour will offer a chance to experience KsE in a unique way that you won’t be able to witness again.

Furthermore, KsE would like to thank all fans who came out to support them during this difficult stretch, exclaiming “We really do feel that our fans are the best fans in the world.” The band also thanked Labonte for pitching in, saying “We can’t thank Phil enough for helping us out when we needed it the most.”

For a taste of KsE with Labonte on vocals, check this footage from the Baltimore show this past weekend at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xp4IJq0ou_g. (Note: This footage can be viewed in full 720 HD resolution by simply locating the “360p” under the video in the tool bar, clicking on it and then moving your cursor up to select “720p.”)

Bootsy Collins

William Earl “Bootsy” Collins (born October 26, 1951, Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American funk bassist, singer, and songwriter.

Rising to prominence with James Brown in the late 1960s, and with Parliament-Funkadelic in the ’70s, Collins’s driving bass guitar and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk.[1] Collins is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with fifteen other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.

With his older brother Phelps “Catfish” Collins, Kash Waddy and Philippé Wynne, Bootsy Collins formed a funk band called The Pacemakers in 1968.
In March 1970, after most of the members of James Brown’s band quit over a pay issues, The Pacemakers were hired as Brown’s backing band and they became known as The J.B.’s. (They are often referred to as the “original” J.B.’s to distinguish them from later line-ups that went by the same name.) Although they worked for Brown for only 11 months, the original J.B.’s played on some of Brown’s most intense and notable funk recordings, such as “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine”, “Super Bad”, “Soul Power”, and “Talkin’ Loud and Sayin’ Nothing”.
It is known that the young Bootsy clashed several times with the rigid, machine-like system that Brown used to discipline the young band whenever he felt they stepped out of line. After leaving the band, Collins then moved to Detroit, following the advice of singer and future Parliament member Mallia Franklin.
After parting ways with James Brown, Bootsy returned to Cincinnati and formed the band House Guests with his brother Phelps Collins, Rufus Allen, Clayton “Chicken” Gunnels, Frank Waddy, Ronnie Greenaway and Robert McCullough. The House Guests released two singles on the House Guests label as well as a third as The Sound of Vision on the House Guess label.
Seeing some similarities with musician George Clinton, Franklin introduced both Collins brothers to George Clinton, and 1972 saw both of the Collins brothers, along with Waddy, join pioneering Psychedelic Soul band, Funkadelic. Bootsy played bass on most of Funkadelic and Parliament’s early albums, garnering several songwriting credits as well.
In 1976 Bootsy, Catfish, Waddy, Joel Johnson, Gary “Mudbone” Cooper, Robert Johnson and The Horny Horns formed Bootsy’s Rubber Band, although they shared members with Funkadelic and Parliament, this was a separate touring unit of Clinton’s P-Funk collective. The group recorded four albums together, the first three of which are often considered to be among the quintessential P-Funk recordings. The group’s 1978 album, “Bootsy? Player of the Year” reached the top of the R&B album chart and spawned the #1 R&B single “Bootzilla”.
Like Clinton, Bootsy took on several alter egos, from “Casper the Funky Ghost” to Bootzilla, “the world’s only rhinestone rockstar monster of a doll”, as part of an evolving character, an alien rock star who grew gradually more bizarre as time went on (see P-Funk mythology). He also adopted his trademark space bass around this time.
Bootsy also released a 1980 album, Sweat Band, on George Clinton’s Uncle Jam label with a group billed as Bootsy’s Sweat Band
In 1984, Bootsy collaborated with Jerry Harrison of Talking Heads to produce “Five Minutes”, a dance record sampled and edited from Ronald Reagan’s infamous “Five Minutes” speech. The record was credited to “Bonzo goes to Washington” ( which was also referenced in the 1985 Ramones song “”Bonzo goes to Bitburg”", derived from Reagan’s starring role as Professor Peter Boyd in the 1951 comedy film Bedtime for Bonzo).
In 1990, Bootsy collaborated with dance group Deee-Lite on their massive hit “Groove Is In The Heart” where he contributed additional vocals. Although he also appeared in the music video playing the bass, the bassline in the song is actually a sample of a Herbie Hancock song called “Bring Down the Birds”. Bootsy’s Rubber Band became the defacto backing musicians for Deee-Lite during a world tour.
Bootsy collaborated with bluegrass legends Del McCoury, Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman to form the GrooveGrass Boyz. They produced a fusion of bluegrass and funk that listeners either loved as a fresh take on tradition or hated as defiling that same tradition.
In 1995, Bootsy played in the remake of Jimi Hendrix’s “If 6 was 9″ for Axiom Funk, a funkadelic like one off super group produced by Bill Laswell and featuring the (funkadelic members) George Clinton, Bernie Worrell, Bootsy Collins, (the guitar of the late) Eddie Hazel, Gary Shider and Bill Laswell . The group released only one album and the song also appeared in the soundtrack of the movie Stealing Beauty.
Bootsy has collaborated extensively with Bill Laswell and made appearances on two Fatboy Slim records, as well as reading a poem at the end of FatBoy Slims’s release in the LateNightTales dj mix series. Bootsy provided “vocal spice” on the TobyMac album Welcome to Diverse City. He also appears on Nicole C. Mullens’ latest album, “Everyday People”. He has also worked with the Lo-Fidelity Allstars on the album ‘Don’t be Afraid of Love’, with Praxis, and with Buckethead on several occasions, for example on Buckethead’s first album, “Bucketheadland”. Bootsy was featured in the 2002 film Standing in the Shadows of Motown. In 2004 he appeared on Snoop Dogg’s Rhythm & Gangsta album and on the cover of “The Joker” on the Fatboy Slim album Palookaville.[2]
In 2005, Bootsy Collins added vocals to fellow bassist Victor Wooten’s album Soul Circus. He also served as “Heineken’s Amsterjam 2005″ curator and master of ceremonies on Randall’s Island, New York and appeared with Madonna, Iggy Pop, Little Richard, and The Roots’ Questlove, in an American TV commercial for the Motorola ROKR phone.
In October, 2005, Collins co-wrote a song celebrating the resurgence of his hometown team, the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League called “Fear Da Tiger” which features “raps” written and performed by several Bengals players, including defensive end Duane Clemons, offensive tackle Stacy Andrews, and center Ben Wilkerson. An edited version of the song was made into a music video which features cameos by many other Bengals players. It has garnered tremendous local airplay and is viewable on Bengals.com Additionally, Cincinnati Bell is offering “Fear Da Tiger” as a free ringtone for its wireless customers in both polyphonic and MP3 formats. Collins appeared with Little Richard, Bernie Worrell, and other notable musicians as the band playing with Hank Williams, Jr. for the Monday Night Football opening during for the 2006 season. Collins was the only all star to return with Williams for the 2007 season.
He also sings “Marshal Law”, the theme song of the Cincinnati Marshals indoor football team. He debuted the song on April 29, at halftime of a Marshals home game against the West Palm Beach Phantoms.
In 2006, ABC Entertainment / A Charly Films Release released a DVD/CD from Bootsy Collins and the New Rubber Band’s concert at the 1998 North Sea Jazz Festival. In the same year, Collins split from long-time friend and guitarist Odhran “The Bodhran” Rameriz, citing creative differences as the reason.
Also in 2006, Collins recorded music for the animated television series Loonatics Unleashed. Collins also voiced the character Bootes Belinda in the episode The Music Villain. [3]
In April, 2007, Bootsy announced plans to begin a restaurant/club with Cincinnati area restaurateur Jeff Ruby. The restaurant is to be called “Bootsy’s.” It will feature live musical acts, a museum dedicated to Bootsy’s musical career and Spanish, Central and South American cuisine. It is to open in December 2008.
In June 2007, Bootsy Collins, along with Phelps Collins, Clyde Stubblefield, John “Jabo” Starks, and Bernie Worrell, participated in the recording of the soundtrack for the movie Superbad.
In July 2007, Bootsy also told Billboard magazine that he’s working on a project by the name of Science Faxtion and an album called Living On Another Frequency in which he serves as bassist and co-producer along with his lead vocalist Greg Hampton. The band also features guitarist Buckethead and drummer Brain.[4] The album was released in November 2008.[5]
Collins promoted Rock the Vote for its 2008 campaign together with Buckethead.[6]
Bootsy produced Junkyard Waltz by funk band Freekbass from Ohio came out October 27.
Bootsy has been mentioned in the song “Genius of Love” by Tom Tom Club in the line “Clinton’s musicians such as Bootsy Collins raise expectation to a new intention”, while “Got more bass than Bootsy Collins” is a line in the song “Rumble in the Jungle” by the Fugees. His influence in popular culture is seen in that he has been referenced by a number of television series. In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode “Sooooooul Train”, Geoffrey sneaks into the Soul Train tapings posing as Bootsy Collins, while in the The Mighty Boosh episode “The Legend of Old Gregg” an alien creature named ‘The Funk’ lands on Bootsy’s house, giving him his ability to play the bass guitar “like some kinda delirious funky priest”, as well as the ability to see around corners. His song I’d Rather Be With You was featured in the movie Baby Boy and on January 26, 2007, Bootsy, a native of Cincinnati, gave the commencement address at the graduation ceremony at The Art Institute of Ohio – Cincinnati.. Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, who cited Collins as one of his primary influences, appeared in unmistakably Bootsy-esque clothing in the video for RHCP’s “Dani California”, and Bootsy’s “What’s a Telephone Bill?” was sampled for 2Pac’s “Str8 Ballin’” track off the THUG LIFE album..
In 2009 Collins collaborated with Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek on the track “Internet Connection”.[7]
Collins’ bass playing is driving, rhythmic and groovy, and has been very influential in the development of funk. His characteristic juicy sound, produced by envelope filters (for example the Mutron), is one of his distinguishing traits as a bass player. He also uses highly syncopated 16th note patterns combined with a very strong slap technique, highly influenced by Larry Graham.
Bootsy’s bass patterns are often up-front in the mix and more often than not, drive the song (rather than the guitars or horns).

Sources include various articles from Wikipedia and Unsung off of TVOne.

Eddie Hazel by John M. Ellison IV

Eddie Hazel

What can said be about Eddie Hazel that hasn’t been already said before? This man was a living legend, a man to carry the torch that Jimi Hendrix lit, pioneer of the Funk-Metal fusion sound that laid the ground that many were influenced by and not even realized it. Many Funkateers and guitar players who know the real deal, know about Eddie Hazel, but, there are a good amount who should know. Like Spacey T said in the black rock documentary “Electric Purgatory: The Fate of the Black Rocker”, “Nobody talks about my man Eddie Hazel.“ For those who are familiar but not aware of the genius of Eddie Hazel this is the article for you.

Born in Brooklyn, NY in 1950 as Edward Earl Hazel, Eddie grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey because his mother, Grace Cook, didn’t want her son growing up in an environment without the drugs and crime that she felt was prominent in New York City. Hazel was given a guitar as a Christmas gift by his older brother. At 12, Eddie became friends with the person to be known as Billy “Bass” Nelson. Both Eddie and Billy sung and played guitar and soon added drummer Harvey McGee to the mix.

In 1967, The Parliaments, a Plainfield-based doo wop group headed by George Clinton, had a hit record with “(I Wanna) Testify.” On this tour, Clinton recruited a backing band, hiring Billy “Bass” Nelson on bass. Billy recommended Hazel for the guitar position. But, due to Hazel working with George Blackwell in Newark, New Jersey. After Nelson returned from touring, he tried to recruit Hazel. Naturally, Eddie Hazel’s mother vetoed the idea of Eddie playing since Hazel was only seventeen at the time. But, Clinton and Nelson changed her mind and let Eddie join the band.

In late ‘67, The Parliaments went on tour with both Nelson and Hazel. In Philadelphia, Pa, Hazel met and befriended Tiki Fullwood, who replaced the Parliaments drummer. With this, Nelson, Hazel and Fullwood evolved from the backing band of the Parliaments to the backbone of Funkadelic. The familiar Doo-Wop sound of the Parliaments quickly began developing into the soul-inflicted hard rock of Funkadelic, Funkadelic was influenced as much by Frankie Lymon as much as Jimi Hendrix. With the addition of Tawl Ross on rhythm guitar and Bernie Worrell on keys, Funkadelic was born.

Now that you’re aware of the basic origins of Eddie Hazel and Funkadelic, I’m going to start off with the first three Funkadelic albums. Remember, this isn’t the definitive Eddie Hazel discography by any means whatsoever. But with these three albums, this should give you a glimpse on the underrated guitar genius of Eddie Hazel.

“Funkadelic”

A phenomenal album recorded in Detroit with contributions from the Motown house band “The Funk Bros.” This album needs a review of all of it’s own. but, in this case we’re going to focus on Eddie Hazel‘s best moments on this phenomenal album.

“I Bet You”

This track asserts itself as a soulful jam that begins with a drum break from Tiki Fulwood and a funky opening riff by Eddie. But as the songs develops, some keyboards and spacey synthesizer action and at 2:07 Eddie’s guitar solo “hits the scene” and brings it on home. The tracks breaks down into a juxtaposition of a science fiction soundtrack, Eddie’s fuzzed out guitar but anchored by the earthy sounds.

Guitar Solo

“Music For My Mother”

“Music For My Mother” gives you a down home southern feel that they refer to as “way back yonder funk.” A track that builds into a call and response with driving drums by Brad Innis and some tasteful licks from Eddie. In this case, Music For My Mother has a grounded feel in the midst of the afro-science fiction funk that’s common throughout the album.

“Good Old Music”

Good Old Music lives up to it‘s name. Eddie Hazel is playing a fuzzed out guitar solo that throughout the song, sews the rhythm section together. In the grand scheme of things, Eddie’s sharp fuzzed out tone is reminiscent of audio embroidery. With Eddie’s soloing he created an audio equivalent of needlepoint that sewed together an already great rhythm section.

“Qualify and Satisfy”

“Qualify and Satisfy” is a down and dirty blues number with suggestive lyrics sung by Calvin Simon. What first starts off as a “gut bucket” blues number develops into a spacey funk jam. Eddie Hazel’s greasy blues licks that develops from a satisfying greasy blues guitar solo into an echoed, fuzzed out call to the cosmos.

Guitar solo

Thanks to the contributions of Dennis Coffey, Earl Van Dyke and other members of the Motown records house band The Funk Bros., this self titled debut was a juxtaposition of screeching Post-Hendrix, Proto-Heavy Metal guitar licks and the “Motown” sound.

“Free Your Mind And Your Ass Will Follow”

The way this album was mixed, the output of the album has this primal crunchy distorted sound that gives you the feeling of pandemonium but still controlled. There have been various legends of George Clinton’s intention regarding this album. One legend is, George Clinton wanted to see if you can record an album on acid and the other legend is that George Clinton wanted to emulate the feeling of an acid trip on a record.

“Free Your Mind…”

The title song kicks off with a mix of fuzzed out guitars, weird chants, synthesizer madness that urges you to elevate your mind from the shackles of yourself to a higher conscious. In this song, Eddie rips a heavy fuzzed out guitar solo that just weaves through out the song like the intricate needlework on a “coat of arms“.

“Friday Night”

A loud, kick to the face to an all around crunchy track with drums by Tiki Fulwood, bass by Billy Nelson, organ by Bernie Worrell and rhythm guitar by Tawl Ross and lead work by Eddie Hazel. Like Good Old Music, Friday Night is a loud jam with proto-metal lead work by Eddie Hazel that sounds like a contemporary to Black Sabbath guitarist, Tony Iommi. Amidst the chaos of this free for all, the song ends on a jazzy outro.

Guitar Solo

“Funky Dollar Bill”

With the band getting across the message of the potential evil that money can buy. A shining moment for not just Eddie Hazel but the band as an entity.

“I Wanna know if it’s Good To You”

“I Wanna Know…“ is a great example of controlled chaos, this is a psychedelic gut bucket R&B tune, the best way to describe it is, soul food fried in LSD. Although as humans, the band are separate entities but, it sounds as if they’re fused together sharing one spiritual entity playing as one. The complimentary licks of Eddie Hazel’s guitar amidst the band sound like racing thoughts that make you break out in a sweat. This song is taken home by a mammoth solo by Eddie Hazel that gives you the feeling of going through time and space.

Maggot Brain

This album is full of amazing guitar work by Eddie, but, I’m going to focus on the title track and “Super Stupid” due to there cultural significance.

“Maggot Brain”

What can you say about this 10 minute epic that hasn’t been said before? I remember, getting into a disagreement with a friend of mine once because they felt this song was a rip off of “Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd. Trouble is “The Wall” was released in 1979, meanwhile Maggot Brain was released in 1971. So unless, Eddie traveled in time to get that “Pink Floyd’s The Wall” vibe, I think it’s safe to say after listening to “Maggot Brain“, time travel is possible.

“Super Stupid”

If anyone tells you that black people don’t play rock, get that guy and crank this jam to the highest volume until there hair stands on end like an anime character and there eyes pop out like a cartoon! Eddie rips this track like cheese to a grater! With a quick guitar sketching that is merely a call to the gates, the song breaks into the no nonsense opening riff that’s the audio equivalent to a punch to the face! Words can’t describe this classic head banger, do yourself a favor and listen for yourself.

Guitar Solo

To reiterate, these three albums are just phenomenal examples of an underrated guitar genius and troubled soul but also the bricks on the road me know as modern rock. If you’re looking to get into the origins of “Funk-Rock”, “Groove Metal“, “Nu-Metal” “Rap-Metal” etc. Funkadelic is one of those definitive bands along with Mother’s Finest, Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and countless others to pioneer the sound. Remember this, you can’t known where you’ve been if you don’t know how far you’ve gone.

Paula Kelly

Paula Kelly/Photo Courteousy of PaulaKelly.net

Daughter of a jazz musician, Paula Kelly was raised in New York City’s Harlem where she attended the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art, majoring in music. She continued her studies at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music where she majored in dance under Martha Graham. Graduating with an M.S. degree, she performed as a soloist with major modern dance companies such as Martha Graham, Donald MacKayle, and Alvin Ailey. She also performed as guest artist and sometimes assistant choreographer for numerous television musical specials, including “Sammy and Friends” (starring Sammy Davis, Jr.); co-choreographer of the BBC production of Peter Pan, in which she also performed the role of “Tiger-Lily”; Quincy Jones’ TV tribute to Duke Ellington, We Love You Madly; The Richard Pryor Show; and Gene Kelly’s New York, New York, in which the two Kellys performed a duet.

Kelly made her Broadway debut in the 1964 musical Something More! playing Mrs. Veloz. She shared the stage with Barbara Cook. Her other Broadway credits include The Dozens (1969), Paul Sills’ Story Theatre (1971), Ovid’s Metamorphoses (1971), and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (1981) with Gregory Hines and Phyllis Hyman.

Kelly performed a dance solo at the Academy Awards for the nominated song “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang”. She appeared on the London stage in Sweet Charity opposite dancer and actress Juliet Prowse as “Helene”, for which Kelly won the London Variety Award for Best Supporting Actress. She starred in the record-breaking west coast premiere of “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” at the Mark Taper Forum, for which she was awarded the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, Variety, and the first of three NAACP Image Awards.

Kelly’s film credits include the Bob Fosse-directed film Sweet Charity; Soylent Green; The Spook Who Sat By The Door; The Andromeda Strain; Uptown Saturday Night; Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling; Drop Squad; and Once Upon A Time. . . When We Were Colored.

Kelly had a recurring role as Liz Williams on the first season of the sitcom Night Court, for which she received an Emmy nomination. Kelly has also guest-starred in a variety of television movies and sitcoms, including Sanford and Son, Golden Girls, Good Times, Any Day Now, and in the groundbreaking Oprah Winfrey-produced The Women of Brewster Place (based on the novel by Gloria Naylor), in which she portrayed one half of a lesbian couple (opposite Lonette McKee) struggling against homophobia in an inner city ghetto. She was nominated for a second Emmy for her role in The Women of Brewster Place.

Also, Paula Kelly was the first model for “Playboy” to feature pubic hair and full frontal nudity in a men’s magazine.

Mark Dean

Mark Dean

Mark Dean and his co-inventor Dennis Moeller created a microcomputer system with bus control means for computer peripheral devices. This invention paved the way for the potential growth in the information technology industry. If it wasn’t for this creation, peripherals like disk drivers, video capture cards, speakers, keyboards, basically anything with a SCSI or USB wouldn’t exist or be useless without this.

Michael Andre Lewis

Being a Zappa fan, of course I had to mention Andre Lewis…

Michael Andre Lewis grew up in Omaha,NE and later formed a group with to-be Grammy award winner Lester Abrams. Lewis has also toured and recorded with: Grant Green, The Who, LaBelle, Buddy Miles Band, Maxayn, Rufus, White Chocolate, Earth Wind and Fire, toured and recorded with Frank Zappa. Produced at Motown and also played with Huey Lewis, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Carl Carlton, Angela Boffil, Stacey Latisaw, Edwin Starr, Charles Wilson and the Gap Band, Sly Stone, Bobby Womack, Jonas Hellborg, Ginger Baker, Freda Payne, and was band leader for Johnny Guitar Watson.

Michael Andre Lewis was one of the first musicians using multiple signal processors on keyboards. He was a pioneer in the use of synthesizers on records and worked with Roger Lynn on developing the first digital drum machines (he was a testor for Roland products). Lewis was hired by FZ to replace George Duke. Andre got to audition via Marty Perillis, who got his name and number from a music store in LA (though his professional relationship with Johnny “Guitar” Watson might have helped him ‘win’ the audition). His first gig with FZ was the Royce Hall concert. Andre Lewis provided organ/keyboards, and/or vocal for Zoot Allures, Studio Tan, Sheik Yerbouti, Orchestral Favorites, Tinsel Town Rebellion, Shut Up ‘N Play Yer Guitar, You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 3, You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore Vol. 6, Läther, Frank Zappa Plays The Music Of Frank Zappa, FZ:OZ, and Quaudiophiliac

Facts

Andre Lewis was one of the first musicians using multiple signal processors on keyboards; later he was a pioneer in the use of synthesizers on records and worked with the now famous Roger Lynn on developing the first digital drum machines.

Andre Lewis: There have been two musically emotional highs in my life; one was when Miles Davis wanted to form a rock band, and he said to me he wanted to have some guys like me in the band, who could play. The other was feeling the vibe playing with my old friends, whom I was raised up with, live and being able to make this record.

Source cited wikipedia.com, Zappawiki.com

Bad Brains

Until recently with the splotlight on bands like Philadelphia’s Pure Hell and legendary Proto-Punk Detroit band “Death” (not to be confused with the seminal Death Metal band of the same name) Bad Brains was considered the first all black punk/hardcore band. Although it can’t be said that Bad Brains was the first black punk band, but you can say that they’re the first black punk band to put the D.C. Hardcore scene on the map.

Originally, the band was first founded as a jazz-fusion ensemble called Mind Power in 1975, with the line up as singer Sid McCray, Gary Miller and brothers Earl and Paul “H.R.” Hudson, in the mold of bands such as Return to Forever and Mahavishnu Orchestra. In 1977, McCray introduced the rest of the band, who were already interested in bands such as Black Sabbath, Budgie and Led Zeppelin to punk rock. including the Dickies, the Dead Boys, and the Sex Pistols. Mind Power became obsessed with punk rock and changed their name to “Bad Brains”, after the Ramones song “Bad Brain” but in this case the word “bad” was used in the sense of meaning “powerful.” Despite their burgeoning punk sound, the early Bad Brains also delved deep into reggae music. McCray left in the early days of the group’s hardcore-punk era, and guitarist H.R. became the band’s singer.

The band developed an early reputation in Washington D.C., due in part to the relative novelty of an entirely African-American band playing punk rock, but also due to their high-energy performances and undeniable talent.

The band’s considerable musical technique, due in part to their jazz and progressive rock roots, set them apart from other Washington punk groups, who were typically earnest but often amateurish performers. Bad Brains’ emphasis on extreme speed, especially in their early records and performances, are often regarded as establishing hardcore punk.

Their music still contained hints of their prog-rock past and even some reggae, with quick time changes and H.R.’s fluctuating vocal dynamics. H.R. was a muscular and unpredictable stage performer with a very wide vocal range, who would often leap into the audience or onto amplifiers equating him to a cross between James Brown and Iggy Pop.

In 1979, Bad Brains found themselves the subject of an unofficial ban among many Washington D.C. area clubs and performance venues (later addressed in their song, “Banned in D.C.”). The band subsequently relocated to New York City where they performed at CBGB’s.

Their self-titled debut album was released on New York’s ROIR Records on “cassette only” in January 1982, followed in 1983 by Rock for Light, produced by Ric Ocasek of The Cars. These two albums, containing hardcore punk and mellow reggae, were landmarks, influencing an entire generation of musicians, including Beastie Boys, Rage Against The Machine, Red Hot Chili Peppers, 311, Living Colour and more.

With any brotherhood, there was in-fighting, the band fought constantly with volatile singer H.R., who was very expressive and allegedly schizophrenic. H.R. seemed to reflect Bad Brains’ music: one minute calm and espousing peace and love, and the next minute an aggressive, sometimes violent man. In 1984, Bad Brains broke up; it was the first of many splits. H.R. began a solo career devoted to all genres of music, calling music “Transcendental” and saying “acceptance of all music is what I feel will be the unification of all nations under one” releasing many albums from 1984, 86′, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, and 2000.

Change of style (1986–1992)

In 1986, Bad Brains reunited and SST Records released I Against I. As the title track demonstrated, Bad Brains could still play extremely fast, but there was also a new variety; there was much more melody and slower grooves. Dr. Know sounded a bit like a punked-out Eddie Van Halen, there was an outright love song in “She’s Calling You,” and H.R. famously provided vocals for “Sacred Love” over the phone from the Lorton Reformatory while doing a bid for a cannabis charge. Also critically praised was H.R.’s performance: “he digs deep into his bag of voices and pulls them all out, one by one: the frightening nasal falsetto that was his signature in the band’s hardcore days, an almost bel canto baritone, and a declamatory speed-rap chatter that spews lyrics with the mechanical precision of a machine gun.” The title track’s video was shown on MTV’s then-new 120 Minutes program, for which the band appeared in promotional footage. Despite the success of I Against I, Bad Brains broke up again after spending most of 1987 on the road.

The group signed with Caroline Records in the late 1980s to release Quickness in 1989. The album continued where I Against I had left off, yet with a heavier sound and featuring the return of reggae with “The Prophet’s Eye”.

Bad Brains were plagued by internal tensions nearly from their beginning. Aside from the problems with H.R., who sometimes refused to perform at scheduled concerts, he and his younger brother, drummer Earl Hudson, also wanted to devote the band strictly to reggae, while Dr. Know and Darryl Jenifer were increasingly interested in heavy metal music. H.R. was replaced by Taj Singleton for the Quickness tour. H.R. had financial problems after an unsuccessful European tour with the group Human Rights, and meanwhile touring replacement singer Taj Singleton did not fit well with Bad Brains. H.R. and Earl both returned to the band, and H.R. was given a week to spit out some lyrics and get the vocal tracks down for Quickness. After the Quickness tour, H.R. and Earl left once again and H.R. was replaced by former Faith No More vocalist Chuck Mosley. Soon afterward, Bad Brains broke up yet again.

In 1990, Bad Brains backed longtime friend, fan, and protege Henry Rollins on a cover version of The MC5’s “Kick out the Jams”. The recording appears on the soundtrack to the film Pump Up the Volume.

Lineup change and reunions (1993–2000)

As bands influenced by Bad Brains (such as Living Colour and Fishbone) enjoyed commercial success, Dr. Know was approached by Epic Records in 1993, offering the band a major-label record deal. However, H.R. and Earl weren’t interested, as they were concentrating strictly on reggae. Dr. Know and Darryl Jenifer replaced them with former Cro-Mags drummer Mackie Jayson (who had played as a session musician on Quickness), and vocalist Israel Joseph I. Rise was released in 1993 to some confusion as original vocalist H.R. had been billed as “Joseph I” on the Rock for Light album back in 1983. Mixing jazz, punk, reggae, pop, funk, and rock, Rise was by far the most diverse album the group had released. In addition to a mix of reggae and hardcore, the album also featured heavy metal overtones. However, sales were unimpressive, reviews were mixed, and Israel and Jayson were fired to make room for the return of H.R. and Earl Hudson.
With the original band back together for the first time in five years, Bad Brains signed to the Maverick Records label for the 1995 release God of Love.

At a show at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, Kansas in 1995, H.R., (according to some accounts, while high on psychedelic mushrooms), bashed a microphone stand against the skull of an audience member, notably, a skinhead that heckled the band with racist taunts, severely injuring him. After this incident, the band called it quits yet again. Earlier that year, while on tour with Beastie Boys, the band was arrested with drug paraphernalia while crossing into Canada. Later in Montreal, Canada, H.R. attacked Bad Brains’ manager Anthony Countey, breaking his nose, and also assaulted his brother Earl before their scheduled appearance with Beastie Boys. This incident also caused them to miss the next show planned for Madison Square Garden in New York City. Maverick dropped the Brains soon afterward.

Two years later, the band worked together to remaster some very early studio recordings which were then released as the EP The Omega Sessions by Victory Records. In 1999, the original lineup toured under the name “Soul Brains” due to H.R.’s desire to not be associated with anything “Bad”. A live album, A Bad Brains Reunion Live from Maritime Hall was released in 2000.

New millennium (2001-present)

H.R. appears on the track “Without Jah, Nothin’ “, on P.O.D.’s triple platinum 2001 recording Satellite.

In 2002, Bad Brains released I & I Survived, an album devoted entirely to dub and reggae; many fans had been pushing for such an album for years.

In 2004, hypeman/producer/DJ Lil’ Jon, another longtime fan of the band, recruited Dr. Know, Jenifer and Earl Hudson to back him on a version of his song “Real Nigga Roll Call,” which interpolated the music of I Against I ’s “Re-Ignition.” The recording appears on the limited-edition release of Lil’ Jon’s album Crunk Juice. The accompanying DVD features footage of the session.

H.R. Performed the song “Who’s Got the Herb?” with the band 311 on June 22, 2004, in Long Beach, California.

In 2005, Darryl Jenifer told Billboard magazine that the band was in the studio recording their first proper studio album in ten years, to be released later in the year. Beastie Boy Adam Yauch also gave interviews indicating that he was producing the sessions, for which basic tracks featuring the original lineup had been recorded. H.R. was said to be on board for the new album, slated to emphasize a return to their early hardcore sound.

In late 2005, it was announced that Bad Brains would headline a two-date show at New York City’s legendary CBGB’s, which was scheduled for February 24–25, 2006. Tickets for both dates quickly sold out. After sets from a handful of other hardcore punk acts, Bad Brains came to the stage, as billed in print, “with John Joseph” of The Cro-Mags filling in for H.R. and former Bad Brains drummer Mackie Jayson filling in for Earl Hudson. Meanwhile, H.R. and Dubb Agents played gigs under the Global Rock Showcase event brand in California.

May 28, 2005, to Sept. 8, 2006, H.R. & Dubb Agents headlined a series of Global Rock Showcase dates across the United States. Dates include Little Steven Van Zandt’s “Save CBGB Rally” concert in Washington Square Park, New York City, August 31, 2005. H.R. has a long time association with Global Rock Showcase organizers D.I.A. Records, and released an album through them titled Out Of Bounds.

On hiatus from Global Rock Showcases, in the fall of 2006, H.R. reunited with Bad Brains for two dates at CBGB’s on October 9 & 10, as part of the continuing celebration of the venue’s legacy and imminent closing. Due to tickets selling out within mere minutes, unsurprising due to the band’s devoted following, a third show was added for Wednesday, October 11. During the course of the three day bill, H.R. announced that the new Bad Brains album was “forthcoming.” He also stated that the band’s next set of tour dates would be called The Re-Ignition Tour. However, the tour eventually was not billed as such.

While H.R. & Dubb Agents geared up to tour Global Rock Showcases ‘07 dates, in early January 2007, Bad Brains revealed the title of the new album. Build a Nation was released on June 26, 2007. The album debuted at #100 on the Billboard 200, and also garnished overwhelmingly positive reception from fans and critics alike. Scheduled between Global Rock Showcase dates, Bad Brains played five dates including Sasquatch Fest, June 27, 2007, George, Washington, and Virgin Fest, Aug. 5, 2007, Baltimore, Maryland. Bad Brains’ California dates were Sept. 22 to 28, 2007, followed by a European tour in October, 2007. Upon return to the U.S. the band took stage in Chicago for the multi-billed Riotfest rock concert. Bad Brains, as of 2006-07, appear to be a more stable unit, and are enjoying successes that did not come to fruition previously. The internet has also contributed to the band’s resurgence as it is now possible to view old and new concert footage via Youtube, or read archived interviews.

The video for the song “Give Thanks and Praises” can be seen online on the band’s MySpace page as of August 2007. Director Shavo Odadjian makes an appearance at the end of the concert video with frontman H.R.. The two are seen charismatically walking stage side, passing and smoking a marijuana joint.
Before the release of the new album, Dr. Know stated he was eager for the band to record more albums. As of 2007, Dr. Know, Darryl Jenifer, and H.R. all have solo albums in the works. H.R. will continue to tour solo with DIA Records Global Rock Showcase through the remainder of 2007, with his instrumental section Dub Agents. The title of bassist Darryl Jenifer’s upcoming solo effort is Blackvova Universal Sound.

In January 2008, the band announced they are working on a box set of 7″ vinyl records.

Bad Brains toured South America during April 2008 with former singer Israel Joseph I (who was in the Bad Brains from 1992–1994 and appeared on the album Rise), temporarily filling in for H.R. The band performed at the Smoke Out festival in San Bernardino, CA on October 24, 2009.

Two documentaries of the band are currently in production as well as a documentary film focusing on H.R..

According to their official website, Bad Brains plan to tour in the spring of 2010.