Jimi Hendrix. A musician's story
Содержание
He has been called the greatest guitarist, included in various musical rankings and lists, awarded the most prestigious prizes and awards... However, he only waved away any labels meaningfully, striving to achieve the perfect sound, trying to comprehend the true art of performing.
Hendrix was a tireless seeker and enthusiast, dreaming of learning to "read" music. He truly hated and hated himself for not being able to pick up certain notes, to play all the sounds that flashed through his mind and imagination.
Childhood
The future guitarist was born on 27 November 1942 in the suburbs of Seattle in a simple family of American workers. At birth he was named Johnny Allen, but his father, who had returned from the front, reacted very negatively to this choice of name and changed it to James Marshall. Known to the public pseudonym "Jimi Hendrix" was fixed for the musician only in 1966, when he first arrived in London. The bassist Chas Chandler, who was then playing in the band The Animals, advised him to choose a more sonorous and memorable name. He later became Hendrix's manager.
The legendary guitarist never finished high school, instead enlisting in the U.S. Army. He became a member of the 101st Kentucky Airborne Group, where he was a parachutist trainee. A year later, Hendrix already had more than twenty jumps to his credit. During the twenty-sixth, something went wrong, and the musician landed unsuccessfully, breaking his ankles. According to the decision of the medical commission, he was written off in the reserve and went home.
First guitar
Hendrix's father was a stern and very demanding man, but that didn't stop him from recognising his son's musical talent in time. When Jimi was fifteen years old, he gave him his first guitar. It was an acoustic instrument, bought at a local shop for five dollars. Career guitarist Hendrix began under the pseudonym "Morris James". After returning from the army, he completely immersed himself in music, forgetting about other activities and hobbies. Thanks to this, by the mid-1960s he managed to work with such iconic performers as Tina Turner, Sam Cooke and many others.
In London.
Deciding to follow the example of his British guitar idols, Hendrix set out to conquer London. He arrived in the British capital on 24 September 1966. At that time the only property of the artist was a small travelling bag, which contained his favourite guitar, a set of change of clothes, acne cream and pink plastic curlers. Hendrix was accompanied by his trusty mate (and part-time manager) Chas Chandler. It was he who persuaded the future rock star to make the trip, promising a meeting with Eric Clapton. Surprisingly, Chandler managed to keep his promise, and 48 hours later his mentee stood on the same stage with the then popular band Cream.
The audience was mesmerised by Hendrix's unorthodox and extravagant performances: he could play with just his teeth, holding the instrument behind his back, without touching the strings with his hands.. Such virtuoso technique helped the musician earn fame as a showman.
Hendrix admitted that his favourite guitar was the Fender Stratocaste. However, he sometimes used models such as the Fender Duo-Sonic, Flying V and Les Paul at gigs.
The guitarist called his own music "electric church" and saw it as a real religion. Hendrix's beliefs are reflected in the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle, one of the halls of which is called "Heavenly Temple". The designers were inspired by Hendrix's ideas and tried to model a place where people of different races and ages could come together to experience music.
One fan of Hendrix's work was Paul Allen, better known as the co-founder of Microsoft. Also born in Seattle, he was extremely annoyed that there was not a single place in his city dedicated to the guitarist. In 1992, Allen came up with a proposal to establish a museum named after Jim Hendrix. The musician's family supported the idea, but during the realisation of the idea Frank Gehry joined the project. He significantly expanded the initial idea, turning the Hendrix Hall of Fame into a huge innovative art complex called Experience Music Project.
In 1969, the guitarist performed the US anthem at the popular Woodstock music festival. Contrary to the considered opinion, the action was not patriotic at all, but rather a was intended as a protest against the occupation of Vietnam.. His manager at the time advised the singer to abandon the dangerous idea, but he did not give in to his entreaties. Hendrix's close friend was jazz musician Miles Davis, with whom he became close during a period of serious "personal problems". Together they planned to record an album, but the dreams of a duet were never realised. Critics later noted that it was his friendship with Jimi that made Davis to get away from classic jazz forms.
Jimi Hendrix passed away on 18 September 1970. There are many mysterious theories and legends surrounding his untimely death. His then-girlfriend, Monica Charlotte Daneman, who witnessed his untimely death, claimed that the musician died after choking on his own vomit. However, the woman's testimony was so confusing, strange, and sometimes even contradictory that it was often questioned, adding even more mysticism to the tragic event. Anyway, the guitarist died in his twenty-seventh year of life, forcing his devoted fans to dress in mourning clothes. He passed away at the height of his popularity, a bright flash in the memory of millions!
