Jimi Hendrix "Songs For Groovy Children" 5CD Box Set of '70 Fillmore East Concerts Due Nov. 22, 2019

The way I understand it, the Experience had very little to no rehearsal time, they played so many shows that they were too exhausted to devote any downtime to learning new songs to add to the setlists, someone correct me if I'm wrong?

 

I agree with this, to a degree.

But, thinking about it -- what would be wrong with, say, Wait Until Tomorrow, played with the same approach that they applied to, say, Crawl Out Your Window?

Would've worked for me, I'd say...

 

Jimi really needed to find a kickass rhythm guitarist to gig with him had he lived, just would've given him more room to breath on stage the more complex stuff would've lifted off.

 

They played stuff on BBC they barely touched live. Other stuff only played 1-2 known times.

They had time to learn "Tax Free" for whatever odd reason, which includes some odd time/key changes. They had time for female companionship.

"Recreational substances" is a more likely explanation than rehearsal time.

 

Hendrix would have needed to sever ties with Mike Jeffery first. Jeffery preferred the trio format - less people to pay.

 

They played Wait Until Tomorrow on the BBC. Burning of the Midnight Lamp, too. Gypsy Eyes, Ain't No Telling, and Little Miss Lover could have worked in the trio format, as well.

 

Jeffery didn’t stop Jimi from expanding his line-up for Woodstock. He preferred the Experience trio for a number of reasons, but at the end of the day, he wanted healthy record sales and touring revenues and if Hendrix could deliver it, he probably would have accepted a variety of line-ups. His alleged role in ending the Band of Gypsys went beyond pressuring Hendrix to reform the Experience, and there is of course evidence that Hendrix orchestrated Buddy’s firing. That said, it is unclear if Hendrix was going to re-sign with Jeffery after 1970 (their partnership in Electric Lady certainly complicated things).

 

Right. I forgot.

 

Jeffrey wanted the original JHE, natch. The February 1970 Rolling Stone article proves that, and Jimi may have initially agreed, but soon enough changed his mind (without informing Noel) and brought Billy back, but Jeffrey booked dates as "JHE" anyway.

 

I wonder if that's why Jimi gave him the ax? The Buddy tunes get quite a response from the Fillmore crowd!

 

One point I'd like to make is that Noel played bass on exactly 5 songs on Electric Ladyland. 3/4 of the record feature Jack Casady, no bass at all, or Hendrix himself using Noel's Fender Bass VI turned upside down.

 

I think Jeffrey made up some stories about Buddy. There was some stuff about long distance phone calls and Buddy buying plane tickets for family on Jimi's dime, but those would have to had been approved by Trixie Sullivan or Jeffrey himself, it's not like Buddy could have called the airline, booked the flights and said "Jimi Hendrix is paying for it, I'm his drummer." So, even if Jimi had agreed to ****can Buddy, it would have been at least partly based on false or skewed information provided by Jeffrey.

 

"Stop" and "Changes" are highlights of each show, and the climax of "We Gotta Live Together" has Jimi breathing straight fire with the wah-wah. Ferocious playing by Hendrix.

 

Jeffery wanted to maximize the Experience branding, but one wonders how much he ultimately cared about who was actually in the band. Hendrix was the star and he knew it — obviously the public didn’t care if Noel was in the line-up or not, they filled arenas and festivals with Cox on bass. I doubt Jeffery would have cared if Hendrix carried on with Aynsley Dunbar and Jack Cassady as long as it was billed the Experience.

 

I agree, and believe he would have done so. Led Zeppelin too, should of added a versatile touring member for rhythm guitar, or keyboards or bass (on songs JPJ plays keyboards on).

 

Absolutely.

 

Jimi could have played any song on Axis live and pulled it off if he had wanted to. I wish he would have pulled out Wait Until Tomorrow and Bold As Love.

 

Correct. Instead, we got, what? "Spanish Castle Magic" on the semi-reg, along with extremely intermittent "Little Wing" and a couple of "Wait Until Tomorrows"?

 

You are the first I’ve heard to say that. Every other person, including drummers I’ve studied under, have always said Bonham was a heavy handed player. He certainly did hit the drums hard, especially in comparison to Ginger Baker and Mitch Mitchell. Baker was a drummer who visually looked like he was hitting hard, but was actually hitting extremely light. The evidence for Baker can be heard in nearly all of his recordings with Cream, Blind Faith, Airforce, etc. Baker and Mitchell were also drummers who were enormous jazz fans. Jazz drummers are known for having a light feel. So already, Bonham hit harder, but of course, he did use a larger kit than the listed drummers.

In my previous post, I briefly mentioned a drummer who used a 28” bass drum (the same size as Bonham’s). That drummer was Tiki Fulwood, the O.G. drummer of pfuunk. He used a kit that had the same dimensions as Bonham’s. But Tiki didn’t hit nearly as hard as Bonham. He played with a traditional grip, and his toms were tuned to sound muffled (which is standard in funk).

Although it’s sad to mention, it does factor into the playing. Bonham was an alcoholic. There’s no getting around it. The substances musicians took definitely impacted the way they played. There certainly were instances where Bonham was drunk behind the kit, and would be hitting hard. Tiki Fulwood, like Ginger Baker, was a heroin addict. So he was usually junked out of his mind behind the kit. His sound would naturally be lighter due to his drug of choice (there’s stories of him being found passed out in alleys from shooting up dope). Tiki also came from Philadelphia, where there’s an enormous jazz scene, so he was schooled in jazz. Bonham was self-taught, which means he probably had only develop his own style.

I’ve seen many posts on this thread, and on other threads about the Gypsys where people say drummers who could’ve played for the Gypsys instead of Buddy. If I had to choose one, it’d be Tiki. It would’ve been cool if Jimi had gotten an organ player too, especially playing a B3, but that’s a whole other discussion... But Tiki is known for having the fastest right foot in the drum community. James Gadson calls him “St. Funky Foot.” He’s also one of the originators of the half time shuffle, which Purdie made famous. Zoro wrote a book on the history of the half time shuffle, titled: The Commandments of the Half Time Shuffle. Tiki’s contribution is on the pfuunk track: “Loose Booty.” The track was recorded in 1971, but wasn’t released till 1972.

I believe the Gypsys can serve as a good starting point for diving into funk. Jimi certainly has helped me to get into funk, and it’s like going down the rabbit hole. I ended up listening to Afro-Cuban music (Eddie Palmieri, Tito Puente, Putumayo), and music from Nigeria (Fela Kuti, Funkees, Ofo & the Black Co.). The genre certainly helped to culture me, not only as a musician, but as a person. I owe it to Jimi and Tiki. And since the Gypsys are heavy funk and are guitar driven, exploring pfuunk would be the next logical step. The easiest album to digest is Maggot Brain (1971), and then I’d recommend the self-titled debut, Funkadelic (1970), which is my personal favorite. Then Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow (1970). The outtakes to Osmium (now titled First Thangs on iTunes- “Breakdown,” “Come In Out of the Rain”) are great too.

Some Sample Tunes:
“Super Stupid”


“Good Old Music”
Funkadelic - Funkadelic - 05 - Good Old Music

“Wanna Know If It’s Good to You”
I Wanna Know If It's Good to You

Tiki Fulwood at the Free Your Mind... And Your Ass Will Follow sessions, 1970:


Notice the traditional grip, and no resonant head on his bass drum.

 

The entire event was professionally filmed. 16mm, multiple cameras, etc. The raw footage exists as well as a finished 30 minute documentary. Not sure if it was multi-tracked but several 1/2" reels, probably 2T, with audio from the festival are/were stored with the film.

 

Is any of this available, either on youtube or via other channels?

 

Another guitarist would have no use for an improv guitarist like Hendrix, having a base guitarist is only useful when his music are planned.

 

I don't think so. There is an ex aud recording of the aborted BOG set as well as what is said to be audio from the 'film soundtrack' that captures most of Who Knows.

A minute of pro footage of Earth Blues was used in a French documentary of some sort. Others may know more about that clip.

 

????

 

Yes I have the AUD recording, it's fantastic for being such a big venue and for so long ago. Was hoping to see the video footage.