Hendrix Live

LITTLE KNOWN 1968 LIVE JAM SESSION WITH HENDRIX AND HIS BUDDIES Recorded on March 17, 1968 at the Cafe Au Go Go in New York, these half-dozen largely instrumental jams feature Jimi Hendrix playing with Paul Butterfield (vocals and harmonica), Elvin Bishop (guitar), Harvey Brooks (bass), Herbie Rich (keyboards and sax), and Buddy Miles (drums). Hendrix and the Experience were in New York recording what was to become Electric Ladyland at the newly opened Record Plant Studios, when one evening Jimi climbed onstage at the famous Soho venue to perform with the esteemed musicians listed above, for what was essentially a spontaneous show, and which was recorded for a live FM Radio Broadcast across New York State and its surrounds.

In August 1994, MCA Records released Jimi Hendrix: Woodstock, a single-disc collection of highlights from Hendrix's legendary closing set at Woodstock. Less than a year later, Al Hendrix won the rights to his son's recordings, and his company, Experience Hendrix, began reissuing definitive masters of Jimi's catalog. In the summer of 1999, Experience Hendrix rolled out Live at Woodstock, which features the entire set over the course of two discs. Hearing Hendrix's complete concert isn't as revelatory as you'd think, since it just emphasizes that he overcompensated for his under-rehearsed band by jamming. And does he ever jam - almost everything clocks in at over five minutes, with a couple weighing in at over ten minutes…

A series of Jimi Hendrix performances from the Band of Gypsys concerts finally gets the deluxe treatment from MCA and Experience Hendrix, as tapes from both first and second shows are brought together, correctly identified (1986's Band of Gypsys 2 actually featured three tracks that weren't by the band at all) in one deluxe two-disc set. This expanded edition contains the only live versions of "Earth Blues," "Auld Lang Syne," "Stepping Stone," and "Burning Desire"; Hendrix tunes specifically worked up for the performance that rarely surfaced again like "Izabella," "Power of Soul," and "Who Knows"; newly remastered versions of "Stop" and "Hear My Train a-Comin'" (both originally presented on Band of Gypsys 2 in horrendous sound) and classic performances of "Stone Free," "Changes," "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)," and "Wild Thing"…

Jimi Plays Monterey is a posthumous live album by Jimi Hendrix. The album documents The Jimi Hendrix Experience's performance at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 18, 1967. As well as songs from the band's debut album Are You Experienced, Monterey also includes covers of "Killing Floor" (Howlin' Wolf), "Like a Rolling Stone" (Bob Dylan), "Rock Me Baby" (B. B. King) and "Wild Thing" (Chip Taylor). The version of "Wild Thing" on the album is one of the most notable live performances ever, as, in an iconic moment in rock history, he sets his guitar alight after the song and then smashes it.

A self-taught guitarist, Hendrix began his musical career backing such R&B greats as Ike and Tina Turner, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and B.B. King. Brought to London from New York by former Animals bassist Chas Chandler, Hendrix quickly established himself as the brightest new star on the burgeoning progressive rock scene of the early '60s…