40 years ago today; one of the greatest guitar players to ever grace the face of this earth, slipped across the divide and slipped the sundry bounds of this earth, and touched the face of God.
I am referring of course, to James Marshall Hendrix.
The Montreal Gazette Remembers:
When Jimi Hendrix took that fatal overdose 40 years ago today, rock star deaths were still shocking. A high school friend broke the news to me as we rushed to homeroom, but I had almost no frame of reference for such loss. I wasn’t yet in kindergarten when Buddy Holly’s plane went down. The only precedents I could remember were the sinister deaths of Bobby Fuller and Brian Jones.
Veteran rockers might be dropping like flies now, but there was no such thing as an old rock star then. Dying automatically meant dying too young.
And Hendrix’s demise, maybe more than many that followed, was tragic ally premature. The body of work he left behind, much of which surfaced after he died, still sounds timeless and full of prom ise after four decades.
The first posthumous release, The Cry of Love, came within less than six months. Made up of some of the songs intended for Hendrix’s next album, it was the most ubiquitous music in the summer of ’71 soundtrack. At least in my circles.
Hendrix’s posthumous releases have been coming out non-stop since then – remixed, remastered, repack aged and rediscovered. Wikipedia lists 53 studio, live and compilation albums.
During his lifetime, Hendrix released only three studio albums and one live recording, all with in less than three years.
Yet such was his artistry that even rough outtakes, like the ones that surfaced this year on Valleys of Neptune, continue to fascinate fans and musicians, young and old.
![Jimi_Hendrix_1967[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.politicalbyline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Jimi_Hendrix_19671.png "Jimi_Hendrix_1967[1]")
Other Great write ups here.
My Friend, local disk jockey Ken Calvert writes on Facebook:
?1970 ~ Jimi Hendrix dies in a London apartment. The coroner rules it accidental, saying the 27-year-old died of asphyxiation. There will never be another. Today, the wind cries Jimi.
They say he was murdered; we will never know the truth, the bastard that had him killed died himself in a plane crash. Which, if this be the case; was sweet justice.
Some great tunes from the person that basically influenced this rather backward geek to pick up a guitar and actually learn to play:
The tune that actually turned me on to Hendrix, told to me; by of all people, my youth pastor!:
Some of Hendrix’s sweeter stuff:
Rest in Peace, Jimi. You influenced me in ways, that you could never know. 🙁
November 27, 1942 – September 18, 1970
James Marshall Hendrix AKA Johnny Allen Hendrix – among the stars, playing to the angels. May your music never be forgotten and may your memory always be eternal.