Gaar Gillian G. - Hendrix: the illustrated story

Star-Club, Hamburg, Germany, March 1967. Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy Stock Photo

Do a search of Best Guitarists of All Time lists, and Jimi Hendrix is invariably on top. As David Fricke put it in his own 100 Greatest Guitarists list for Rolling Stone in 2010, In the end, I looked at it this way: Jimi Hendrix was Number One in every way; the other 99 were all Number Two. People dont just cite Hendrixs skill on the guitar. They talk about his imaginative approach to playing, his fusion of blues and rock to create something more powerful, his ability to push equipment to the limit in creating new sounds, and, most of all, how easy he made it all look.

David Fricke also wrote of his experiences seeing Jimi in live performance:

I feel sad for people who have to judge Jimi Hendrix on the basis of recordings and film alone; because in the flesh he was so extraordinary. He had a kind of alchemists ability; when he was on the stage, he changed. He physically changed. He became incredibly graceful and beautiful. He did this thing where he would play a chord, and then he would sweep his left hand through the air in a curve, and it would almost take you away from the idea that there was a guitar player here and that the music was actually coming out of the end of his fingers.

Fricke added that while watching Jimi play at the Scotch of St. James club in London, he and Eric Clapton gripped each others hands in their excitement: What we were watching was so profoundly powerful. No one can have that kind of experience again, of course, but theres still much to discover in Jimis music, not least because theres now so much out there. Jimi released three studio albums and one live album during his lifetime, but that number has since been dwarfed by posthumous releases. Now the listener can really get inside to learn how his music was created, tracing a song from demo to completion, or marvel at how he really stretched out when performing on stage.

Jimis own story is fascinating as well. He started out in impoverished circumstances, largely raised by a single father, often going hungry and stuffing cardboard in his shoes when he got a hole in the sole. His early years in the music business werent much easier as he scrabbled to find work and barely made enough to make ends meet. But when he finally stepped out front to head up his own band and make his own music, it didnt take him long to find a receptive audience. The years of preparation had stood him in good stead.

Jimi Hendrixs fondest wish was to succeed in music. He loved nothing more than talking about music, listening to music, recording music, and playing music. The music he left behind provides a rich legacy, one that can beand will beexplored for new inspiration, time and again.

Star-Club, Hamburg, Germany, March 16, 1967. Gunter Zint/K & K Ulf Kruger OHG/Redferns/Getty Images

CHAPTER 1

SPANISH CASTLE MAGIC DAYS

When Johnny Allen Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942, in Seattle, Washington, his family was already in a state of flux. From the very beginning, the future guitar hero was adrift in a world of instability. It was something that would follow him throughout his short life.