Jimi Hendrix Tribute

It was the idea of Peter Bursch, the guitar teacher of the nation and bandleader of the Krautrock legend Bröselmaschine, 20 years after the death of Jimi Hendrix to put together an illustrious crowd of hip musicians and to organize a Rockpalast tribute concert in 1991. Rockpalast mastermind Peter Rüchel and director Christian Wagner were quick to get enthusiastic about this idea. Through his personal contacts Peter was able to find some really competent musicians who were willing to deal with this idea. So an All Star Band was formed from very different exceptional musicians like Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions), who also took over the musical direction of this project, Jack Bruce (Cream, West, Bruce and Laing), John Wetton (King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep, UK, Asia etc.), Simon Phillips (The Who, Toto, Asia etc.), Randy Hansen and many others.

In the early '70s, Lonnie Smith's recordings frequently exhibited a debt to Jimi Hendrix's groundbreaking fusions, but he waited until 1994 to release Foxy Lady, a full-fledged tribute to the innovative guitarist. Foxy Lady was so successful that Smith decided to make another Hendrix album, again with John Abercrombie and Marvin "Smitty" Smith. Purple Haze is as entertaining as Foxy Lady - it's truly remarkable to hear how these blues-rockers can open up into soul-jazz numbers tinged with free jazz influences - and confirms not only Hendrix's composing talents, but also Smith's vision.

The resurrection of Lonnie Smith continues with this exciting mini-survey of the Jimi Hendrix legacy. This time, the material allows Smith's crackling, tightly knit collaborators, John Abercrombie and Marvin "Smitty" Smith, to run a bit wild - indeed, Abercrombie's tone and attack takes on a Hendrix-like cast on the title track - while Lonnie mostly remains in the same cool soul-jazz frame of mind, an excellent foil. The most ambitious track, "Castles Made of Sand," takes on a military rhythm before breaking out into Smitty's everywhere-at-once drum patterns, cooking at a fine boil through its 23 1/2-minute length before breaking into a suitably chaotic rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" toward the end. On the latter, Abercrombie has a ball pouring on the sarcasm, and Lonnie bounces around the organ…

Guitarist Nguyên Lê pays tribute to Jimi Hendrix by performing ten of the late rock innovator's songs on this 2002 CD. Lê plays in the tradition of Hendrix without directly copying him, being creative and stretching himself. There's plenty to be familiar with for Hendrix fans, but ultimately far more surprises.

Randy Hansen has acquired himself quite a reputation as one of the best Jimi Hendrix impersonators on the 3rd stone from the sun. He is one of the few players officially recognized by the Hendrix family. He has been successfully doing his "Hendrix trip" for years and has toured / played with Uli Jon Roth, Jack Bruce, and Paul Rodgers. His music appeared in the 1979 film "Apocalypse Now", and his debut album was released in 1980 on Capitol Records. Hansen's high energy guitar work has earned praise from fellow Dutch-American, legendary guitarist, Eddie Van Halen (in Guitar Player magazine), among others. He also was a good friend of the late Stevie Ray Vaughan (writing a song about him called "Texas Twister" from his "Old Dogs New Tricks" CD)…

„When I die, I want people to play my music, go wild and freak out and do anything they want to do.“ Jimi Hendrix’s wish has been posthumously fulfilled. Although he had such misfortune in life, and died in 1970 at a mere 27 years of age, his immortal music has continued to be played ever since his death - very much in the spirit of that quote. Countless musicians in rock, pop and jazz have been influenced by Hendrix, and many have overtly based their own music on his. Among the ACT family of artists, several have been inspired by his music, and have found their own individual ways to play it. In November of this year this icon of the 1968 protest movement, this pioneer of rock would have been 75. A good reason, then, for ACT musicians to gather together for a retrospective called “Hendrix in the Spirit of Jazz”, to let the unique spirit of this genius of the electric guitar soar again.