"Chas Chandler's 'Butterfly Effect': how The Animals bassist discovered Jimi Hendrix

Fascinated by the work of an idol - do fans often wonder how their star rose? How, for example, did his career begin Jimi Hendrix? A few completely random moments in the history of rock and roll can point to when music, art and society as a whole changed forever... Although it may not have seemed like a revolutionary moment at the time, "the butterfly effect" by Chas Chandler. - bassist for a British band The Animalswho witnessed Jimi Hendrix performing at Cafe Wha? in New York City Greenwich Village - was a special moment in time that changed the world forever... Yes, that's a big statement! But when you think of the enormous tremendous upheavals that Hendrix brought to the music world (and by extension, to society as a whole), it doesn't seem like a big statement anymore... Although it would be unfair to say that without Chandler.... Jimi Hendrix would never become a star, unequivocally - his career as a guitarist would not have progressed as rapidly as he had hoped....

How Linda Kate brought Chandler and Hendrix together.

Before becoming a legend, for some time. Hendricks progressed through the music industry, working with artists such as The Isley Brothers and Little Richard. By providing them with an extra guitar, Jimi was fed up and his name was on the rumour mill, at least to one degree or another... However, everything changed for Hendrix when he met the Chandler's Cafe Wha? in New York's Greenwich Village. 5 July 1966.. It was at this point that both musicians travelled into the stratosphere ....

In truth, the world has a photo model to thank for this legendary encounter Linda Kate.. She was the one who managed to convince the Animals bassist to go to Greenwich Village to catch a glimpse of the new guitarist everyone was talking about! Kate was dating at the time Keith Richardsguitarist. The Rolling Stonesand I saw Hendrix perform at the club. Cheetah…

"It was magical for me..." - Linda Kate recounted of her first discovery of Jimi Hendrix. "And I couldn't believe that nobody had noticed him before, because he was obviously in the public eye a lot... He was amazing! The mood he could bring to the music, his charisma, his skill and stage presence... And yet nobody had any excitement. I just couldn't believe it..."

Thanks to his connections. in the world of rock 'n' roll, Kate. decided to give Hendrix the platform he honestly deserved. She enlisted the help of a manager Rolling Stones Andrew Loughe Oldham.who came to see Hendricks play in the Cafe Au Go Go! However... that one left the room without much of an impression, thus losing one of the greatest guitarists of all time.

The decisive meeting at the "Wha?" Café.

The Animals were close to collapse when they arrived. to New York in early July. Ready to make the leap into production, Chas Chandler saw Hendrix's potential right away:

"The night before we were due to play in Central Park, someone played Tim Rose's version of 'Hey Joe'! I was so fascinated by it that I vowed, 'As soon as I get back to England, I'm going to find a performer to record that song...'"

https://youtu.be/fe82eYRjiBU

However, the performer found it on his own. Chandler continues to wallow in the memories of that evening:

"Later that night, we went to a club called Ondine's. As we walked in, Linda Kate was walking towards the exit and we stopped to talk. She told me I should see some guy who was amazing on guitar... It was that night that I saw Jimmy James and the Blue Flames perform at Café Wha? And it just so happened that the first song Hendrix played that night was "Hey Joe"! It seemed as if our meeting was destined by fate...".

Chandler's impressions of Jimi's game.

The producer was in attendance that evening Bob Kulikwho many years later recalled how much Chandler was fascinated by the game Hendrix:

"I look at Chas and his mouth is wide open... And when Jimi started playing with his teeth during 'Hey Joe', Chandler's drink fell out of his hand and spilled over his lap! I personally saw it happen! I knew what Chandler was thinking at that moment: there wasn't a man who saw Jimi play and didn't think he was God..."

It was enough to convince Chandler that he had found his star... That same evening he discussed his plan with the Hendricks: he's going to London and will assemble a band around his genius, utilising British musicians and cashing in on the explosion of swing subculture sweeping the British capital....

"That night at Cafe Wha? Jimi was just an explosive genius whose potential amazed me!", Chandler recalled. "How impressed I was with his version of 'Hey Joe'... But the thing that finally convinced me of his talent was another song - 'Like a Rolling Stone'! I knew Bob Dylan well and loved his material, but "Like a Rolling Stone" was the first of his songs that I didn't quite understand. It was lurking in the way Dylan sang that song. I never felt he expressed it properly. When Jimi sang it, he did it with great conviction, and the words came through to me immediately!"

Conclusion...

It was the beginning of a beautiful and fruitful partnership that tragically ended too soon.... Chandler and Hendricks provided each other with a vehicle to get to the top of the musical pile. Without each other they would never have succeeded, and without them the world would have lost a really big deal... Some moments in rock history are ignored by the public, but for a select few, this meeting was a moment that changed everything for everyone.