was semi-kidding last night that
I shd write a book called
An Unironic Rocker Girl's Guide To Jimi Hendrix
(honestly could be a whole series,
URG's Guide To Royal Trux,
The Velvet Underground,
Nirvana,
Les Rallizes Denudes,
etc)
anyway,
this thred contains some thoughts on
Jimi Hendrix: Epic Improviser
#JimiHendrix #Music #Improvisation #ImprovisedMusic #ElectricGuitar
I've read that it's not a 'fan favorite'
whatever that means
(hence no deluxe edition that I know of)
but Jimi/Experience at L.A. Forum 1969
is for me a classic mostly-improv set.
Tax Free, Red House
& the solo guitar break in (I think) Spanish Castle Magic,
are all pieces I study again & again.
(Red House has a lengthy solo-guitar break as well.
the band chills out while Jimi gets into it w/ his wah.
Tuning issues but whatever,
it's a guitar,
you'll have that!)
...
& to be clear,
what I'm studying in those pieces
is not (only) guitar technique,
tho there's plenty of that...
it's HOW to improvise—
form, structure, dynamic, intuition, tone, interplay,
& the sloppy bits lol
...
one interesting thing about the
April 1969 L.A. Forum show
is that
(despite the exhaustion &/or boredom of some members of the trio?)
it's the JHE improvising as a GROUP.
very different than the (brilliant) Band Of Gypsys shows,
where Jimi is largely a soloist w/ a rhythm section.
(a dynamic & responsive rhythm section,
but they don't go all flying off places together as a trio
generally speaking)
...
this VILLANOVA JUNCTION from Maui 1970
is a mix of both approaches.
Mitch & Billy may or may not
have ever fully gelled as a rhythm section.
(I go back & forth on it... could write you an essay lol)
here, Mitch *mostly* chases Jimi while Billy holds it down:
...
(I'm not SURE offhand,
but I MAY recall that
VILLANOVA JUNCTION,
a lovely blues variation
that Jimi recorded in a few different arrangements,
was named posthumously by manager Mike Jeffries,
as was PALI-GAP & a few others)
...
the solo guitar piece from L.A. Forum April 1969
that I THINK takes place during Spanish Castle Magic
is also interesting in that
the same ideas turn up more definitively
in August's "Woodstock improvisation"
between Star Spangled Banner & Villanova Junction
L.A. 1969 has an early Banner also.
#JimiHendrix #Music #Improvisation #ImprovisedMusic #ElectricGuitar