Going Out {of 2015} On A High Note

Okay Fellow Babies, this installment is going to be a bit of fun.   Yeah, I know the last few posts have been rather dark and sombre, but please remember that my writing usually reflects my current mood, or state of mind.  2015 has been anything but kind to me on numerous occasions, and this fact neatly dovetails with my continuing efforts to get all the malaise shit from the last six years off my brain for good.  Per usual, the positive catalyst that made me sit up and pay close attention once again came from an outside source.  Better still, said outside source was none other than my main man James Marshall Hendrix.  Before we go any further, have a gander at the following:

"Jimi's signature tune that we've all heard thousands of times?  What's so special about that?"  Good question.  This performance of PH is from the legendary "Rainbow Bridge {Maui} Vibratory Color-Sound Experiment," put on in July 1970 .  Whilst the whole affair was a right shambles {as my drum Mentor Mitch Mitchell stated years afterwards}, this and a few other cuts from the shindig make me wonder if those silly hippies actually DID tap into something ethereal by happy accident.  To illustrate, please view the video again, and this time pay very close attention to Jimi's guitar between 2:04 and 2:13.  

Let's assess from the beginning, shall we?  By the summer of '70, Jimi had probably done PH in concert a good 400 times or more, playing every one a bit differently each time out.  He would have been perfectly within his rights to "phone it in" on occasion, but he rarely did so.  Indeed, the first 

half of PH certainly feels like Jimi's coasting on autopilot, "sound-freaking" as he would say, but right at 2:04 Jimi lets loose with the most MAGNIFICENT guitar passage I've ever heard in my entire life.  Those incredible nine seconds literally sent chills up and down mny spine the first time I discovered them, and the magic is still there after many repeated viewings.  My initial thought was "How the hell did Jimi steal one of Steve Vai's tastiest licks before Stevie even picked up an axe for the first time?"

The answer is obvious - it's the other way around, of course.  All one has to do is dig up the "Jack Butler Guitar Duel" from the movie "Crossroads," to catch my drift.  Stevie himself freely acknowledges Jimi as a personal Mentor, and has been demonstrating the fruits of his study at the Master's foot for a good 30 years or more now.  However, there is one crucial clarification that needs to be presented here.  The late, great Jack Bruce summed it all up perfectly when he said that Eric Clapton was a virtuoso guitar player, but Jimi Hendrix was a force of Nature.  It's the same with Steve Vai; he's a grade musician and technical guitar genius, whilst JMH is a tsunami, volcano, hurricane, wildfire, tidalwave, meteor shower, lightning strike, and earthquake, all rolled into one.

And there you have it, Cats and Kitties.  As the video proves, Jimi did more in a mere nine seconds, than a lot of musicians do their entire lifetimes.  And it's precisely this wonderful fact that has brightened my outlook considerably, and given me the urge to share the joy with all and sundry.  Rather a pleasant way to bridge the Old and New Years, wouldn't you agree?

Happy New Year, Fellow Babies!!!
More shortly......