--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "card" <cardemaister@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, turquoiseb <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "PaliGap" <compost1uk@> wrote: > > > > > > Thanks for the story Turq. I'm as jealous as f***! I'm > > > afraid I'm a hopeless case where JH is concerned. Sorry. > > > > I understand. Which is why I probably also understand > > a certain reaction to people talking about him and his > > relative guitar prowess who in all likelihood never > > saw him play, and probably never even knew who he was > > until he died. > > > > As a guitar freak, I've been a relatively fortunate one, > > in that I've managed to be either lucky enough or solvent > > enough financially to have been able to gain access to > > first-row seats in front of some of the great guitarists > > of our age. I've sat an arm's length away from Segovia > > and John Williams and many of the great guitarists of > > our lifetime who you could name, and I'd weigh Jimi's > > sense of "touch" and the guitar being an extension of > > his self as the equal of any of them. Dude was phenomenal. > > I still can remember when I first heard The Experience play. > It was Red House (Polydor, European[?] version; Spotify, the > *sixth* entry). I was climbing up the stairs to the second > floor of our summer residence, and kinda was almost petrified. > Thought, who the fvck plays so dirty and simultaneously > so skillfully? > > Only just a couple of minutes ago listened to the US version > (first entry, Reprise?), *for the first time*. Gots to say, > IMO Jimi almost ruins the song compared to that European > version. Stupid echos, and I'd say inaccurate additional bends, > and "lawds", occasionally poor rhythm, and stuff. > > Perhaps the British atmosphere made him somehow play more > relaxed and thus, better??
I doubt very seriously that Jimi would have responded favorably to "relaxed." He was somewhat combative in person and thrived on challenge. Here's a classic story told by a rather combative person himself, rock promoter Bill Graham, who takes credit for...uh...coaxing one of Jimi's best performance ever out of him by getting in his face and calling him a slacker: Concert promoter extraordinaire BILL GRAHAM takes the credit for one of JIMI HENDRIX's greatest live performances. HENDRIX performed two shows on New Year's Eve, 1969, and two shows on New Year's Day, 1970, at the world famous FILLMORE EAST in New York City ... in fact, a couple of the shows were recorded for release as a live album. According to GRAHAM, JIMI put on an incredible show, pulling out every trick in the book to razzle dazzle the audience ... but, "he never really played. He did every one of his moves. Side. Up. Under. Piercing. Throwing. Kissing. Fire. Fucking. Humping. He did it all. Picking with his teeth ... they thought he was the greatest ... and he was ... but not during that set." The audience sat in awe with their mouths open ... it appeared to be the show of shows. Between shows, HENDRIX came back stage to GRAHAM's office and asked, "What'd you think, Bill?" GRAHAM says, "I didn't want to answer him, so I asked the others to leave the office. And I said, 'Jimi, you're the best guitar player I know and tonight, for an hour and a half, you were a hack. You were a disgrace to what you are.'" HENDRIX, typically a quiet and shy man, was blown away. "Didn't you hear that audience? They went crazy!" "I know," said GRAHAM. "You know what you did? You made the same mistake too many of the other great ones make. You subconsciously play what they want. You sock it to them. You did an hour and a half of shuck and grind and bullshit that you can do with your eyes closed lying down somewhere. But you forgot one thing. You forgot to play. And it's tragic for you, because you can play better than anyone I know." HENDRIX reportedly fell apart. "Why are you telling me that?" he screamed, pushing furniture around. "Because you asked me," GRAHAM answered. And, according to GRAHAM, "What followed on the next show, with respect to Carlos and Eric and all the others, was the most brilliant, emotional display of virtuoso electric guitar playing I have ever heard. I don't expect to hear such sustained brilliance in an hour and fifteen minutes. He just stood there, did nothing ... just played and played and played. He comes off the stage afterwards, a wet rag, and says to me ... 'All Right?' I said, 'Jimi, it was great.' And I hugged him and got all wet and I asked him if he would do an encore." "Yeah," JIMI said ... "and then he goes out and does every conceivable corny bullshit thing he can do." I stick with my guns over the idiocy of anyone claiming that Stevie Ray Vaughn was better than Jimi Hendrix. That's akin to having so little discrimination and taste as to believe that Robin Carlsen was an actual spiritual teacher. Oh. Wait. Never mind. :-) It was an interesting article that WillyWiener pointed out, though. I agree with very few of David Fricke's "rankings," but his choice of guitarists is admirable. His expertise seems limited to rock and to big money rock at that, but I thought it was admirable that he included Ry Cooder at #8 (ahead of Keith Richard, who became famous by ripping off most of Ry's licks). And it was important to rank Chuck Berry at #6. I thought that in terms of rock history Bo Diddley should have been rated higher than #37, but Fricke made up for it by ranking Jerry Garcia at #13. Essentially, as far as I can tell, the subjective "best" ratings for rock guitarists is about as reliable as similar ratings for spiritual teachers. Most people are taken in by flash, and blind (or in this case deaf) to substance. They also have a tendency to not under- stand the effect that drugs had on their rankings. With the rock guitarist assessments, those drugs were mainly cannabis and LSD; with the spiritual teacher assessments, mainly cheap, garden-variety occult energy that they mistook for enlightenment. With both guitarists and spiritual teachers, the magic happens when things get quiet.
