I've been saturated with all things Hendrix my entire life. I grew up in Skyway, WA, a neighborhood south of Seattle, literally a stone's throw from where Jimi grew up. Everyone knew the house, and most of us met Al, his dad, at one time or another. Skyway is on a hill overlooking Renton, WA, and from there you can see another hill call the Highlands neighborhood. Hendrix was buried in a cemetery at the top of that hill, right off Old Cemetery Road.
My entire life as a guitarist I've been deluged with Hendrix. All my peers in the neighborhood all knew his licks and practically worshiped him. Up until around my 30th birthday I didn't even know guitar cases came
without Hendrix stickers on them!
Even after all this, I still can't get enough of his music.
Today's players are much faster and cleaner, but for his time he was as good as anybody. Moreover, in those days you didn't just walk up to the local GC and have your choice of 25 different flange pedals and mountains of rack gear. Many of Hendix' sounds were achieved the old fashioned way. Either that or they were completely new for the time and Hendrix pioneered them.
But beyond that, I think Hendrix' genius lies not so much in his playing or his fabulous tone, but in his unique ability to comunicate emotion through his playing and songwriting. There is
no way you can listen to Foxy Lady and not bob your head to that groove! No way you can't feel the poiniancy of "Castles Made of Sand". No way you can't feel the tense awareness of "All along the Watchtower". Or the rowdy sexuality of "Fire". Or the delicate reverance of "Little Wing". Or the vastness of "Third Stone from the Sun". Or the defiance of "If 6 was 9"
Very few musicians can convey the depth and weight of emotion on any instrument or in any style that Hendrix did with his music.
I only wish the flood of posthumous releases would end. I think all they do is dillute the body of work he issued during his life.
Aaron
http://www.voodoovibe.com
