Jimi Hendrix: 43rd Death Anniversary
Today, September 18, 2013 marks the 43rd death anniversary of one of the world's most influential and celebrated mucisians of the 20th century, Jimi Hendrix. Since his death in 1970 at the age of 27, Hendrix is remembered around the world as one of the greatest electric guitarist in music history.
Born as Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942, Jimi is a gifted song writer but he was known for his guitar tricks and the way he plays his guitar. Some people call it mesmering while others describe it as an out of this world experience.
Eric Clapton once described his performance: "He played just about every style you could think of, and not in a flashy way. I mean he did a few of his tricks, like playing with his teeth and behind his back, but it wasn't in an upstaging sense at all, and that was it ... He walked off, and my life was never the same again".
His high bend, complex guitar playing is what sets him apart from other guitarist as he helped populaized the use of wah-wah pedal in mainstream rock. The pedal is what he used to deliver tonal exaggerations in his solo, an act that Jimi is known for.
His band, "The Jimi Hendrix Experience" had a brief success in Europe with their first two singles "Hey Joe" and "Purple Haze" which is under the "Are You Experienced" album which lasted 33 weeks in the chart at the number 2 spot. The groups LP was prevented to reached the number 1 spot due to the Beatles' "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band".
It was on June 4, 1946 when Jimi opened a show with his rendition of Sgt. Pepper's title track that blew Paul McCartney away. He described the moment: "It's still a shining memory for me ... The curtains flew back and he came walking forward playing 'Sgt. Pepper'. It's a pretty major compliment in anyone's book. I put that down as one of the great honors of my career."
The editor of the Guitar World desribed the band's album 'Are You Experienced" as "the album that shook the world...leaving it forever changed." In 2005, the album reached double platinum and Rolling Stone described it as Hendrix's "epochal debut" and they ranked it the 15 greatest album of all time.