My introduction to Jimi Hendrix was via The Experience and
those three amazing LPs. Later,
when I heard Band Of Gypsys for the first time, I didn’t take to it
immediately. Reminiscent perhaps
in parts to Electric Ladyland, it was still too out there for me. Soon, though, as I continued to listen
to it and take it in, it became a very special record to me.
The Band Of Gypsys really only existed for several months
between October 1969 and January 1970.
Having split from Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, Hendrix put together
this new band with a couple buddies he knew before his career took off.
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| L - R: Buddy Miles, Jimi Hendrix, Billy Cox. |
Hendrix met bassist Billy Cox in 1961 at Fort Campbell during
his stint in the Air Force. The
two performed together with ensembles and formed The King Casuals after leaving
the service. Like Hendrix, Cox
played with some of the finest R&B killers of the day including Sam Cooke,
Rufus Thomas, Etta James and Little Richard. After Noel Redding jumped ship, Cox came on board.
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| Lookin' sharp, gentlemen. |
Buddy Miles met Hendrix in 1964 at a show both were
performing at in Canada, Hendrix with The Isley Brothers and Miles with The Ink
Spots. Miles played with The
Delfonics and Wilson Pickett, among others, before starting The Electric Flag
with Mike Bloomfield in Chicago in 1967.
After The Electric Flag broke up, Miles started his own band, The Buddy
Miles Express. Miles had played on
some of the sessions for Electric Ladyland. When Hendrix asked Miles to join Band Of Gypsys in October
1969, he said yes.
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| The Electric Flag. |
Bill Graham booked The Band Of Gypsys for a four performance
engagement over the course of New Year’s Eve, December 31st 1969 and
January 1st 1970. These
concerts were recorded and six of the songs were ultimately released as the
Band Of Gypsys LP. Following
Hendrix’s death, an LP called Band Of Gypsys 2 was released. This was misleading in that Band Of
Gypsys only played on the A side, performances of “Hear My Train A Comin’,”
“Foxy Lady” and “Stop.”
Recently, I paid my hard earned money to download Live At
The Fillmore East, which consists of sixteen recordings, fifteen of which were
not released on Band Of Gypsys.
“Hear My Train A Comin’” and “Stop” are included, but not “Foxy Lady,”
which I find odd. It includes the
same recording of “We Gotta’ Live Together” as can be found on Band Of Gypsys,
though this one is unedited, coming in at 9:56 compared to the 5:46 version
found on Band Of Gypsys. I know
bootlegs exist, but I would very much like to see all four sets remixed,
remastered and released with truckloads of liner notes. I’d love to be able to listen to each
set, complete, start to finish, without edits.
The recordings from those concerts reveal a band on fire,
fully in control of their formidable talents, firing on all cylinders, swinging
HARD and rocking harder. Hendrix
joked about their limited repertoire (‘We only know about six songs right now…
seven… nine…’), but this band only needed a handful of tunes to blow the doors
off the Fillmore East.
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| This is what righteous rock looks like. |
Hendrix finally had a rhythm section he had no personal
problems with and with who he felt a sense of newfound freedom. Perhaps it is the sound of relief and
of sheer joy that we hear coming out of Hendrix on these recordings. He was more excited about the music he
was making than he had been in a long time and was playing with musicians who
shared his background and roots to a much larger extant than Mitch Mitchell or
Noel Redding. If anything, Jimi’s
confidence must have been soaring, his enjoyment of this lineup eclipsing his struggles
up to that time.
But within the joyful release of the music lies the dark
underbelly of the times. Vietnam,
the Civil Rights movement, the Black Panther party, Kent State, Altamont and a
lot of ugly confrontation between the old guard and the new
counterculture. Hendrix was experiencing
turmoil with his management and his career. These were dark times, as much as the period is associated
with peace and love. Hendrix knew
it and felt it. You can hear it
best in “Machine Gun”, where Jimi sings, “Evil man make me kill you, evil man
make you kill me.” If his “Star
Spangled Banner” at Woodstock was Jimi’s commentary on the violence and war
going on at the time, “Machine Gun” was that frightening vision put to
words. The versions from those
Fillmore East concerts were downright scary, the band providing the soundtrack
to the scenes everyone was seeing every day. Explosions, napalm, gun shots, bombs, Molotov cocktails,
death.
Perhaps the times were also reflected, somehow, in the
direction Jimi’s life and career took after these recording were made. One more Band Of Gypsys concert, back
to unsure lineups, unsure situations, complete disillusionment and, ultimately,
death.
But, for those two nights at the Fillmore East, Jimi was
very, very much alive. The
chemistry and interplay between these three musicians is so powerful and such a
joy to listen to. The gospel roar
of “We Gotta’ Live Together,” the killer version of “Stone Free,” the slow burn
of “Hear My Train A Comin’,” the beautiful little figure that acts as the intro
to “Changes.” There is a sense of
uplift, of positivity in the music and the message. ‘With the power of soul, anything is possible’ seems to be
the point and the evidence is in the magic of the music. For two nights, four sets, The Band Of
Gypsys ROCKED. I love listening to
these recordings, getting inside them, closing my eyes and trying to really believe
I’m there, in the middle of the crowd, experiencing this incredible testimony
to the power and glory of music.
The Band Of Gypsys would perform only one more show, a
charity event at Madison Square Garden later in January. According to Buddy Miles, Hendrix’s
manager, Michael Jeffrey, wanted Hendrix back with Redding and Mitchell and
purposely sabotaged the show by giving Jimi bad acid:
‘Jeffrey slipped [Jimi] two half-tabs of acid on stage as he
went on ... [Jimi] just freaked out. I told Jeffery he was an out-and-out
complete idiot and a fucking asshole to boot. One of the biggest reasons why
Jimi is dead is because of that guy.’
Hendrix ended up having a breakdown and walking off stage,
effectively disbanding The Band Of Gypsys. I’ll let you do your own research on this one, but I agree
Jeffrey was instrumental in guiding Hendrix to an early grave.
We’re left with a wonderful catalog of work and the
aftermath of a revolution in guitar playing. Hendrix is like the Bruce Lee of music (or maybe Bruce Lee
is the Hendrix of kung-fu); no one can touch them, not only because they were
the best at what they did but because they’re gone. Gone too soon.
The wonder and marvel I feel when I hear Hendrix has not diminished over
the decades, the inspiration is as strong as it ever was. I’d have loved to see him live but he
was gone before I got here. I have
to make due with videos and visions in my head. Band Of Gypsys remains one of my absolute favorite Hendrix
LPs and The Band Of Gypsys was one of the best lineups he ever got down with.
