John Mcdermott

A little over-sentimental, but with an admirable honesty and melancholic integrity, McDermott drapes his vibrant tenor over the string quartet, harp, piano, tin whistle, and English horn backing. Tracks such as "Ave Maria," drawn from his school choir days, sit with trad Christmas numbers and more contemporary pieces like Murray McLauchlan's "Old Tin Star"…

Given that Jimi Hendrix's career as a frontman lasted only about three years, it might be hard to believe that there's still great material that hasn't been officially released even 40 years after his death (of course, unofficially released is a different matter). But here is Jimi's three-night stand at Winterland in San Francisco from October of 1968, which, despite excellent recordings by Wally Heider, sat largely unreleased until 2011. A single disc was compiled and released by Rykodisc in the late '80s (there was also a hard-to-find three-track bonus disc), but had been out of print for years when this box set arrived.
The Winterland shows were notable for a few reasons. The original Jimi Hendrix Experience had been together for two years and were probably playing at the height of their powers in October 1968 (they would break up in June of 1969)…