Later in 1965, Hendrix joined a New York-based R&B band, Curtis Knight and the Squires, after meeting Knight in the lobby of the Hotel America, off Times Square, where both men were living at the time. He performed on and off with them for eight months. In October 1965, Hendrix recorded a single with Curtis Knight, “How Would You Feel” and “Welcome Home”, and on October 15 he signed a three-year recording contract with entrepreneur Ed Chalpin, receiving 1% royalty. While the relationship with Chalpin was short-lived, his contract remained in force, which caused considerable problems for Hendrix later on in his career. Aside from Curtis Knight and the Squires, Hendrix then toured for two months with Joey Dee and the Starliters.

In between performing with Curtis Knight in 1966, Hendrix toured and recorded with King Curtis. Hendrix recorded the two-part single “Help Me (Get the Feeling)” with Ray Sharpe and the King Curtis Orchestra (the backing track was subsequently overdubbed by other vocalists with different lyrics and released as new songs). Later in 1966, Hendrix also recorded with Lonnie Youngblood, a saxophone player who occasionally performed with Curtis Knight. The sessions produced two singles for Youngblood: “Go Go Shoes”, “Go Go Place”, “Soul Food (That’s What I Like)” and “Goodbye Bessie Mae.” Additionally, singles for other artists came out of the sessions: The Icemen’s “(My Girl) She’s a Fox”, “(I Wonder) What It Takes” and Jimmy Norman’s “You’re Only Hurting Yourself” and “That Little Old Groove Maker.” As with the King Curtis recordings, backing tracks and alternate takes for the Youngblood sessions would be overdubbed and otherwise manipulated to create many ‘new’ tracks (many Youngblood tracks without any Hendrix involvement would later be marketed as “Jimi Hendrix” recordings). Also around this time in 1966, Hendrix got his first composer credits for two instrumentals, “Hornets Nest” and “Knock Yourself Out”, released as a Curtis Knight and the Squires single.

Hendrix, now going by the name Jimmy James, formed his own band, The Blue Flame, composed of Randy Palmer (bass), Danny Casey (drums), a 15-year-old guitarist who played slide and rhythm named Randy Wolfe, and the occasional stand in June 1966.

Since there were two musicians named “Randy” in the group, Hendrix dubbed Wolfe “Randy California” (as he had recently moved from there to New York City) and Palmer (a Tejano) “Randy Texas.” Randy California would later co-found the band Spirit with his stepfather, drummer Ed Cassidy. It was around this time that Hendrix’s only daughter Tamika was conceived with Diana Carpenter (also known as Regina Jackson), a teenage runaway and prostitute who he briefly stayed with. Her claim has not been recognized by the US courts where, after death, she may not have a claim on his estate even if she could legally prove he was her father, unless recognized previously as such by him or the courts.

Hendrix and his new band played at several places in New York, but their primary venue was a residency at the Cafe Wha on MacDougal Street in Greenwich Village. The street runs along Washington (Square) Park which appeared in at least two of Hendrix’s songs. Their last concerts were at the Cafe Au Go Go, as John Hammond Jnr.’s backing group, billed as “The Blue Flame.” Singer-guitarist Ellen McIlwaine and guitarist Jeff “Skunk” Baxter also claim to have briefly worked with Hendrix in this period.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience

Early in 1966 at the Cheetah Club on Broadway at 53rd Street, Linda Keith, then girlfriend of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, befriended Hendrix and recommended him to Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham and later, producer Seymour Stein. Neither man took a liking to Hendrix’s music and they both passed. She then referred Hendrix to Chas Chandler, who was ending his tenure as bassist in The Animals and looking for talent to manage and produce. Chandler was enamoured with the song “Hey Joe” and was convinced he could create a hit single with the right artist. Impressed with Hendrix’s version, Chandler brought him to London and signed him to a management and production contract with himself and ex-Animals manager Michael Jeffery. Chandler then helped Hendrix form a new band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, with guitarist-turned-bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell, both English musicians. Shortly before the Experience was formed, Chandler introduced Hendrix to Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton, who had only recently helped put together Cream. At Chandler’s request, Cream let Hendrix join them on stage for a jam on the song “Killing Floor.” Hendrix and Clapton remained friends up until Hendrix’s death. The first night he arrived in London, he began a relationship with Kathy Etchingham that lasted until February 1969. She later wrote a well received autobiographical book about their relationship and the sixties London scene in general.

UK Hits

After his enthusiastically received performance at France’s No. 1 venue, the Olympia theatre in Paris on the Johnny Hallyday tour, an on-stage jam with Cream, a showcase gig at the newly-opened, pop-celebrity oriented nightclub Bag O’Nails and the all important appearances on the top UK TV pop shows “Ready Steady Go!” and the BBC’s “Top of the Pops”, word of Hendrix spread throughout the London music community in late 1966. His showmanship and virtuosity made instant fans of reigning guitar heroes Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck, as well as Brian Jones and members of The Beatles and The Who, whose managers signed Hendrix to their new record label, Track Records.

Hendrix’s first single was a cover of “Hey Joe”, using Tim Rose’s uniquely slower arrangement of the song including his addition of a female backing chorus. Backing this first 1966 Experience single was Hendrix’s first song-writing effort, “Stone Free.” Further success came in early 1967 with “Purple Haze” which featured the “Hendrix chord” and “The Wind Cries Mary.” The three singles were all UK Top 10 hits and were also popular internationally including Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Japan (though failed to sell when released later in the US). Onstage, Hendrix was also making an impression with speeded up renditions of the B.B. King hit “Rock Me Baby” and Howlin’ Wolf’s hit “Killing Floor.”

ARE YOU EXPERIENCED

The first Jimi Hendrix Experience album, ARE YOU EXPERIENCED, was released in the United Kingdom on May 12, 1967 and shortly thereafter internationally, outside of USA and Canada. It contained none of the previously released (outside North America) singles or their B sides (”Hey Joe”, Stone Free”, “Purple Haze”, “51st Anniversary”, “The Wind Cries Mary” and “Highway Chile”). Only The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band prevented the record from reaching No. 1 on the UK charts.

At this time, the Experience extensively toured the United Kingdom and parts of Europe. This allowed Hendrix to develop his stage presence, which reached a high point on March 31, 1967, when, booked to appear as one of the opening acts on the Walker Brothers farewell tour, he set his guitar on fire at the end of his first performance, as a publicity stunt. This guitar has now been identified as the ‘Zappa guitar’, which has been partly refurbished. Later, as part of this press promotion campaign, there were articles about Rank Theatre management warning him to “tone down” his “suggestive” stage act, with Chandler stating that the group would not compromise. On June 4, 1967, the Experience played their last show in England, at London’s Saville Theatre, before heading off to America. The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper album had just been released on June 1 and two Beatles (Paul McCartney and George Harrison) were in attendance, along with a roll call of other UK rock stardom, including: Brian Epstein, Eric Clapton, Spencer Davis, Jack Bruce, and pop singer Lulu). Hendrix chose to open the show with his own rendition of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, rehearsed only minutes before taking the stage, much to McCartney’s astonishment and delight.

While on tour in Sweden in 1967, Hendrix jammed with the duo Hansson & Karlsson, and later opened several concerts with their song “Tax Free”, also recording a cover of it during the Electric Ladyland sessions. Just one example of his strong connection with that country, he played there frequently throughout his career, and his only son James Daniel Sundquist was born there in 1969 to a Swede, Eva Sundquist, recognized as such by the Swedish courts and paid a settlement by Experience Hendrix LLC. Sundquist had sent Hendrix roses on each of his opening nights in Stockholm, and began - according to the Swedish courts - a sexual relationship from then until conceiving Daniel with him, after his third visit in January 1969. He also had an expatriate musician friend who lived there, “King” George Clemmons, who played back-up at one concert and socialized with him on at least two of his visits there. Hendrix also dedicated songs to the Swedish-based Vietnam deserters organization in 1969.

Months later, Reprise Records released the US and Canadian version of ARE YOU EXPERIENCED with a new cover by Karl Ferris, removing “Red House”, “Remember” and “Can You See Me” to make room for the first three single A-sides. Where the [rest of the world] album kicked off with “Foxy Lady”, the US and Canadian one started with “Purple Haze.” Both versions offered a startling introduction to the Jimi Hendrix Experience, and the album was a blueprint for what had become possible on an electric guitar, basically recorded on four tracks, mixed into mono and only modified at this point by a “fuzz” pedal, reverb and a small bit of the experimental Octavia pedal on “Purple Haze”, produced by Roger Meyer in consultation with Hendrix. A remix using the mostly mono backing tracks with the guitar and vocal overdubs separated and occasionally panned to create a stereo mix was also released only in the US and Canada.