Jimi Hendrix (eBook)

Musician Popstar Icon

Lothar Trampert (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2025
404 Seiten
BoD - Books on Demand (Verlag)
978-3-8192-3885-7 (ISBN)

Infos

No other musician has influenced so many artists of all genres, from Rock to Blues to HipHop and Jazz, with his songs, guitar playing, improvisations, and broad horizons as Jimi Hendrix. Even more than half a century after his untimely death on September 18, 1970, Hendrix remains an icon of pop music, with fans from all styles. ,Jimi Hendrix. Musician Popstar Icon' is a journey through the music of James Marshall Hendrix, through his studio albums and live performances, through videos, books, magazines, and websites, but also through Jimi's collection of instruments - guitars, amplifiers, effects devices - through his musical preferences to his plans, dreams, and ideas, the realization of which was prevented by his early death. A book about music - with the best soundtrack in the guitar world. The author begins by briefly recounting his first encounter with the music of Jimi Hendrix in the 1970s. This is followed by a biography of the artist, then a look at his two most important companions, drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. And then it's on to the music - the legendary albums that were released during Hendrix's lifetime and later. After an overview of guitars, amps, sounds, and studio work, and an introduction to important aspects of Jimi Hendrix's playing technique, the book examines various influences: Blues, R&B, Jazz, British rock, American avant-garde... Interview excerpts from important musicians and contemporary witnesses , like rock and blues greats such as Robin Trower, Carlos Santana, Steve Lukather, Michael Landau, Joe Satriani, Albert Collins, Richie Sambora, Billy Corgan, Reeves Gabrels, Jack Bruce, Uli Jon Roth, and Jeff Beck have their say, as do jazz and crossover artists such as Mike Stern, Nguyên Lê, Christy Doran, Hellmut Hattler and Caspar Brötzmann show fans & followers. Finally, the extensive systematic section of this book deals with the music and media that Hendrix left behind - with a comprehensive, highly detailed discography, an overview of official videos and YouTube material, tribute albums & a bibliography. The 40 Hendrix photos in the book, in color and black and white, were taken by Günter Zint, a politically engaged photographer and activist who met Jimi several times in the 1960s at the Star Club in Hamburg, in London, and at the legendary Fehmarn Open Air. You can find out more about Günter Zint in the book and on his foundation's website www.stiftung-guenter-zint.de.

Lothar Trampert loves rock, jazz, blues, funk, classical music, R&B, and more, as well as guitars, photography, cycling, cats, and good weather. He studied musicology and art history, worked as a freelance journalist and book author, was music editor of a musicians magazine for 30 years, has conducted more than 400 interviews with artists of all genres, and has written about almost as many old guitars and basses. His book Elektrisch! Jimi Hendrix: Der Musiker hinter dem Mythos (Electric! Jimi Hendrix: The Musician Behind the Myth), published in 1991, was the first comprehensive German-language publication on the subject and became a standard reference work for fans, guitarists, record collectors, and music lovers. Time for an update! Jimi Hendrix: Musician Popstar Icon. jimihendrixbuch.de paleblueice.com

Textauszug

02 CAN YOU SEE ME?

JOHNNY JIMMY JAMES & JIMI

It is rare for a person to change their name. For various reasons, this was the case several times for the musician we are talking about here: Born Johnny Allen, he became James Marshall after just four years, he called himself Jimmy and his international career in England was then launched in 1966 under a variant that was as reduced as it was original. It's all about Jimi Hendrix.

HOME

Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 in Seattle, Washington, in the northwest of the USA. His parents Al and Lucille were African-Americans with Irish and Cherokee ancestry and both came from poor backgrounds. Shortly after their wedding in the spring of 1942, Al was drafted into the army. His wife, who was just seventeen when their son was born, was not up to the responsibility of caring for the child. She was overwhelmed and had other interests. So Johnny Allen spent the first three years of his life mostly with Lucille's relatives and friends.

After Al Hendrix had finished his service in the army and returned to Seattle, he was unable to see his son again as he had hoped, as he had been placed with a friend of Lucille's mother, Mrs. Champ, in Berkeley, California. So Al drove 800 miles south to bring his boy home. However, the dream of an intact family life no longer seems to have come true for him. Even after his return, Johnny Allen repeatedly stayed with relatives, not least because of the tensions between Mr. and Mrs. Hendrix and his sometimes excessive drinking habits.

The name Lucille Hendrix had chosen for her son was changed by Al on September 11, 1946: He applied for an official re-registration on the birth certificate, and Johnny Allen became James Marshall. After long arguments, Al and Lucille separated for good five years later and were divorced on December 17, 1951.

James Marshall, who was called Buster by his friends, had just turned nine at the time of the divorce. He and his brother Leon (*1948) stayed with their father, while three other siblings, Joseph (*1949), Cathy (*1950) and Pamela (*1951) grew up with other families who had adopted them. Al Hendrix earned a living for himself and his two sons with various jobs until he found a job as a landscape gardener in Seattle. Jimmy and his brother Leon, who was six years younger, were able to attend a "white school" that did not practice the racial segregation that was widespread at the time – this was still the norm in the south of the USA in the 1940s and 1950s.

Jimmy's interest in attending school seems to have been rather less pronounced, he only really had some success in art classes and moved back and forth between various elementary and junior high schools several times until the age of 15. He was also a member of the local scout group and played on the Fighting Irish football team for two years. He is also said to have been interested in cars as a child: He drew them and also designed his own models.

His interest in music must have increased during this time. It is said that he occasionally turned up at school with a broom to put on a guitar show in front of his classmates. The new trend was Rock & Roll, and nobody could ignore it because radios were in every household. After Jimmy had carried out a few experiments with self-made stringed instruments – model: broomstick, cigar box and string – which gave his friends another reason to joke about him, he got serious. First he taught himself a few melodies and simple chords on a found ukulele, and a short time later he got his first real instrument: a cheap acoustic guitar, which he bought from a friend of his father.

Al Hendrix had (contrary to some anecdotes about alleged early musical encouragement) apparently ignored his eldest son's artistic interests at first – perhaps also because he had no money left to buy an instrument. He himself had no musical training, but loved music and mastered the old slave tradition of rhythmic thigh drumming with two tablespoons. Later, he allegedly also tried playing the saxophone, but gave it up after a while.

His son stuck with it: Jimmy now learned to play the guitar on his self-purchased acoustic, self-taught. Due to the progress he made, his father gave him an electric guitar a year later, on which he tried to play the Rock & Roll songs he heard on the radio, initially without an amplifier. He was fascinated, talented and persistent. And made progress.

On February 2, 1958, his mother Lucille died, with whom he had hardly had any contact in the years since his parents' divorce.

Hendrix's first band, which he joined as a fifteen-year-old in the summer of 1958, was called The Velvetones, but was reorganized and renamed after three months: The Rocking Teens then existed until early 1959, and in the summer of that year some former members formed The Rocking Kings, which played mostly cover versions and in which Hendrix was hired as bassist due to a surplus of guitarists – albeit with his normal electric guitar.

THE ARMY

Jimmy left high school that same year to earn his own money. He already had some income from occasional gigs with his band. In 1960 he joined Thomas & The Tom Cats, but had to leave in 1961 when he joined the army in May of that year. He was reportedly arrested for car theft at the time and was given the choice of a U.S. prison or the U.S.-Army. Hendrix chose the second evil and, at the age of 18, signed up as an involuntary volunteer for the 101st Airborne, a parachute troop. He was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and to this day he is listed on the website www.military.com as a "famous veteran". But not only in praise.

In Kentucky, he founded the band The King Kasuals together with other drafted musicians at the beginning of 1962 and performed regularly in the entertainment clubs run by the U.S.-Army and in the Pink Poodle Club in Clarksville. The repertoire of Jimi's new formation, which also included bassist Billy Cox (who would later play a very important role for Hendrix), consisted of Top 40 titles – another cover band. In addition to Hendrix and Cox, drummer Gary Ferguson, saxophonist Charles Washington and trumpeter Jimmy Darden also played in the band, later joined by the somewhat older singer Johnny Jones.

After just over a year, Hendrix's career as a parachutist was over – but not because of a foot injury he claimed to have sustained during a jump, as he later liked to say himself. It was more likely that they parted "by mutual agreement" after various warnings, as James Marshall Hendrix had probably regularly laid on his ear during his time in the service and was otherwise rather reserved. The army was not his thing. He returned to civilian life in June 1962 and now began to work full-time as a musician. Jimmy's guitar was often kept in the pawnshop due to an acute lack of money and was only released before gigs if money was easier to find than another instrument. In general, he borrowed most of his equipment from friends and various club owners.

After Billy Cox was also discharged from the army in September, he and Hendrix moved to Clarksville together, and shortly afterwards to Nashville. They continued their band, which was now called The King Casuals or sometimes The Casuals, but also worked with other musicians, such as Johnny Snead & The Imperials and Bob Fisher & The Barnevilles, with whom they accompanied The Marvelettes and Curtis Mayfield for a month. Here they also played together with guitarist Larry Lee, who, like Cox, would reappear in a Hendrix band seven years later. Hendrix's first, albeit not very successful, studio work allegedly took place during this time. He took part in a Starday Records recording session for Bill Hoss Allen in Nashville. However, the guitar track he recorded could not or would not be used and was deleted by the producer.

THE ROAD

In the winter, Hendrix moved back near his hometown of Seattle; he lived with relatives in neighboring Vancouver and played with Tommie Chong (later one half of the stoner comedians Cheech & Chong) and Bobbie Taylor & The Vancouvers during this time. However, he returned to Nashville in the spring of 1963 and immediately reconnected with the local music scene. He then toured the entire USA with Gorgeous George Odell's band. This combo also lived mainly from backing jobs for various soloists. During this tour, he also made his first contact with Rock & Roll musician Little Richard, with whom Hendrix only worked briefly, if at all, as a temporary guitarist during this time. The following year, Jimmy was hired as an accompanying musician for a package tour with artists such as B.B. King, Jackie Wilson and The Supremes. This period also marked the beginning of Hendrix's growing interest in the Blues, which was triggered by further encounters with musicians such as Albert King, Willie Dixon and Muddy Waters.

Jimmy moved to New York City at the beginning of 1964. On May 13, 1964, Hendrix was in the studio with American singer/songwriter Don Covay and recorded the track 'Mercy Mercy' (aka 'Have Mercy'). He continued with a concert tour and recordings for the Isley Brothers, a soul-oriented band of outstanding musicians who were only moderately successful at the time. After a gig in Nashville/Tennessee in November of that year, he left the somewhat surprised band just as suddenly as he had appeared.

When he arrived in neighboring Memphis, he met guitarist Steve Cropper, known for his band Booker T. & The M.G.'s, at the Stax studio. Hendrix later said that he had recorded a...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 10.6.2025
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Kunst / Musik / Theater ► Musik
• Schlagworte: Blues • Electric Guitar • Guitar hero • Jimi Hendrix • Rock Guitar
• ISBN-10: 3-8192-3885-9 / 3819238859
• ISBN-13: 978-3-8192-3885-7 / 9783819238857