Band of Gypsys
Band of Gypsys is a live album by Jimi Hendrix and the first without his original group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, frequently referred to as the Band of Gypsys. The album mixes funk and rhythm and blues elements with hard rock and jamming, an approach which later became the basis of funk rock. It contains previously unreleased songs and was the last full-length Hendrix album released before his death six months later.
For the Gwyneth Jones novel, see Band of Gypsys (novel).
After his appearance at Woodstock with an interim group that included Cox, Hendrix began developing new songs and recording demos. When Miles became involved, he and Cox agreed to record a live album with Hendrix to be used to settle a contract dispute with a former manager. The new material, influenced by Cox's and Miles' musical approaches, signals a new direction for Hendrix. Songs such as "Power of Soul" and "Message to Love" (originally "Power to Love" and "Message of Love")[a] still maintain the dominant role of Hendrix's guitar, but show funk and R&B influences. Lyrically, they also explore new, more humanistic themes for Hendrix. The two songs written and sung by Miles bear the stylings of soul music. The anti-riot and anti-war "Machine Gun" draws on Hendrix's earlier blues aspirations, but incorporates new approaches to guitar improvisation and tonal effects.
As the album's producer, Hendrix had a difficult time completing the task. Presented with the sometimes problematic recordings and resigned to turning it over to a different record company, Hendrix expressed his dissatisfaction with the final product. Shortly after its release, Band of Gypsys reached the top ten of the album charts in the US and UK as well as appearing in charts in several other countries. Although it was as popular as his albums with the Experience, it received mixed reviews. Some faulted the performances as tentative and underprepared; additionally, Miles' contributions on drums and vocals have been characterized as plodding and obtrusive. "Machine Gun" is generally regarded as the album's highlight and one of Hendrix's greatest achievements. The influence of Band of Gypsys is heard in the funk rock developments of the 1970s and has been cited as an inspiration by various later rock musicians. Reissues of the album on compact disc included three extra songs recorded during the Fillmore East shows, and additional material has been released on later albums.
Background[edit]
In 1969, Jimi Hendrix was under pressure from his manager and record company to record a follow-up to his hugely successful 1968 album Electric Ladyland. He was also required to produce an album's worth of new material for Capitol Records in order to satisfy a contract dispute with former manager Ed Chalpin and PPX Enterprises.[5] Capitol had released two misleading Chalpin-produced Curtis Knight albums with Hendrix on guitar, which competed directly with his own Experience albums.[6] Additionally, Hendrix was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with bassist Noel Redding and the Experience format.[7] During the recording of Electric Ladyland, he and producer Chas Chandler parted ways and Hendrix began to explore recording with other musicians and different musical styles. By the middle of the year, he had not completed any promising material and Reprise Records resorted to issuing his April 1968 UK compilation album, Smash Hits, with some new tracks for the North American market.[8] A concert film of a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London in February 1969 was entangled in legal disputes and its release was uncertain.[9] In May, while en route to a performance in Toronto, Hendrix was detained and charged with illegal possession of narcotics.[10] If convicted of the felony, he faced as many as 20 years in prison. On June 28, 1969, Hendrix announced he planned to work with new musicians, including a new bass player.[11] The next day, after a potentially life-threatening riot following a concert in Denver, Colorado, Redding left the group to return to London and the Jimi Hendrix Experience came to an end.[11]
Hendrix then began experimenting with an expanded lineup for a limited number of American engagements.[12] In addition to original Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, he worked with bassist Billy Cox and second guitarist Larry Lee, as well as percussionists Juma Sultan and Gerardo "Jerry" Velez.[13] Cox and Lee were two musicians with whom he had played in R&B bands in Tennessee in 1962, shortly after his stint in the US Army.[14] The aggregation, often referred to as "Gypsy Sun and Rainbows", performed as the final act at the Woodstock Festival on August 18, 1969 (while introducing the group at Woodstock, Hendrix added "It's nothing but a band of gypsies").[b] After a couple more appearances, including a September 8 episode of the late night American television The Dick Cavett Show without Lee and Velez, the ensemble disbanded.[16] Lee returned to Tennessee, Sultan and Velez left to pursue other opportunities, and Mitchell joined Jack Bruce's touring group.[16]
In October 1969, Hendrix and Cox began jamming and recording demos with drummer Buddy Miles.[17] Miles had played with various R&B and soul musicians, as a member of the Electric Flag and fronting the Buddy Miles Express, both blues rock-R&B fusion groups.[18] Miles was also a frequent jam partner of Hendrix and had played the drums the year before on the two-part song "Rainy Day, Dream Away"/"Still Raining, Still Dreaming" for Electric Ladyland.[19] Cox and Miles expressed an interest in performing and recording a new album with Hendrix.[20] Hendrix's manager, Michael Jeffery, saw the opportunity to record a New Year's performance at the Fillmore East[21] for a live album and the trio began preparing for the upcoming concerts and new album.[22] Between then and the end of December, the trio rehearsed at Juggy Sound Studios and recorded several demos at the Record Plant Studios in New York City, where Hendrix recorded much of Electric Ladyland.[23] After Hendrix's December 10, 1969, acquittal in his Canadian trial, the trio rehearsed their material at Baggy's Studios up until their first concert appearance on December 31.[24] In an interview, Hendrix explained, "We spent 12 to 18 hours a day practicing this whole last week, straight ahead, and then we went into a funky little club and jammed down there to test it out".[25] Early versions of some of the songs which eventually appeared on Band of Gypsys from two of the rehearsal sessions were released as The Baggy's Rehearsal Sessions by Dagger Records in 2002.[5]
Recording[edit]
The material for Band of Gypsys was recorded over two consecutive nights at the Fillmore East.[5] The group was scheduled for two shows on December 31, 1969, and another two on January 1, 1970 (because the shows went beyond midnight, the actual dates were December 31 – January 1 and January 1–2; for ease of reference, these are referred as the first show, second show, third show, and fourth show).[36] The recording was supervised by Wally Heider, an experienced sound engineer who ran a recording studio and had made several live recordings.[61] He had already recorded Hendrix live several times, including at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and Woodstock in 1969. Portable recording equipment was set up at the venue and the trio performed for a soundcheck in the afternoon.[d]
Concert promoter Bill Graham billed the performances as "Jimi Hendrix: A Band of Gypsys", but Hendrix's new direction since the breakup of the Experience six months earlier had not been publicized.[62] With a new lineup and material, Cox observed, "We didn't know what to expect from the audience and the audience didn't know what to expect from us".[63] 24 different songs were performed over the four shows, for a total of 47 recorded versions.[36][e] The group did not prepare set lists or otherwise plan for their performances.[35] McDermott notes, "Hendrix called out tunes to Miles and Cox and would often make time and tempo changes on the fly, alerting his partners with a simple head nod or raising of his guitar neck".[35] Miles also saw improvisation as a key element of their approach.[65] According to Shadwick, the first show was essentially a warm-up set[36] and they performed eleven new songs (it was the only show not to include any familiar Experience songs).[41] There were some microphone problems during the first two songs, which re-appeared for the first two songs of the second show as well.[41] Hendrix also experienced tuning problems with his guitar.[66] His heavy use of the Stratocaster's whammy bar (vibrato arm) stretched the strings and led to pitch problems which he was often forced to correct mid-song.[67] For the second show, in addition to new songs, Hendrix added "Stone Free", "Foxey Lady", "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", and "Purple Haze".[36]
On the second night, the group performed a mix of new and older material for the third and fourth shows.[36] The contrast between the first and second nights has been noted by Hendrix biographers. Based on interviews with Cox and Miles, concert reviews, and film footage, McDermott and Shadwick conclude that Hendrix was less animated during the third and fourth shows, when he stood mostly in place until the final encores, seemingly concentrating on recording.[28][68] In frequent interviews and in his autobiography, Bill Graham claimed that his own criticism of Hendrix's delivery to the audience (although he seems to confuse which shows) had spurred him on.[28] However, according to McDermott, Hendrix was determined to deliver the standard of recording performances that would provide an album that would settle the bitter legal dispute with Ed Chalpin.[41] All of the six songs that were chosen for the Band of Gypsys album were recorded on the second night during the third and fourth shows.[69] After the main set, Hendrix played for his last encores "Wild Thing", "Hey Joe", and "Purple Haze".[70]
Influence and legacy[edit]
Writer Rickey Vincent describes Band of Gypsys as "a never-heard-before amalgam of punishing guitar riffs over crisp rhythm and blues grooves ... The funk-rock sound would change the face of black music, setting a template for the spectacular glam-funk of the 1970s".[4] Murray sees their influence in the early 1970s radio hits "Freddie's Dead" by Curtis Mayfield and "That Lady" by the Isley Brothers.[109] (Hendrix was influenced by Mayfield early in his career and was a member of the Isley Brothers' touring band before the Experience). George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic, who defined funk for the 1970s, were also influenced.[4] P-Funk's "Maggot Brain", a ten-minute guitar opus by Eddie Hazel, draws on "Machine Gun" and bassist Bootsy Collins identified Hendrix as a chief innovator in the liner notes to his What's Bootsy Doin'? album.[109][110] Later funk-influenced artists Larry Blackmon (singer for Cameo) and Nile Rodgers (guitarist for Chic and record producer) also cite the album's importance and influence.[60]
In addition to funk rock, Murray sees the Band of Gypsys as "tread[ing] an intriguing path along the common border between hard funk and heavy metal; less psychedelic soul than black rock".[34] Vernon Reid (guitarist for Living Colour) and Ice-T (singer for Body Count) have commented on the Band of Gypsys as an early influence.[60][111] Trey Anastasio, guitarist for Phish, commented that "I remember, like many guitarists, being obsessed with Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys. It was the record. I listened to that solo on 'Machine Gun' a million times".[112] During interviews in the 1999 documentary Band of Gypsys: Live at the Fillmore East, Reid, Velvert Turner, Slash, and Lenny Kravitz discuss "the inspiration and continuing influence that Band of Gypsys has provided".[113]
During the Band of Gypsys rehearsals in November 1969, Hendrix and Miles recorded the backing track for "Doriella Du Fontaine", with Lightnin' Rod (later known as Jalal Mansur Nuriddin) of the Last Poets.[114] Although it was not released until 1984, McDermott cited it as " a pristine example of Hendrix's embrace of hip-hop during that music form's infancy".[114] Writer Gene Santoro describes it as "foreshadow[ing] the rap-meets-metal crossover of later artists like Run-DMC".[115] In 1990, the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground extensively sampled "Who Knows", the opening song from Band of Gypsys, for "The Way We Swing" on the Sex Packets album. McDermott concludes that it would be difficult "to accurately measure the lasting impact Band of Gypsys has made on rock, funk, R&B, and Hip-Hop".[72]
In 2018, the original Capitol Band of Gypsys album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which "honor[s] recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance".[116] On June 23, 2019, the Band of Gypsys were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit, Michigan. Billy Cox, the last surviving member of the group was on hand to accept, along with representatives of the Buddy Miles and Hendrix estates.[117]
All tracks were written by Jimi Hendrix, except "Changes" and "We Gotta Live Together" by Buddy Miles, and "Stop" by Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman.
Production personnel
Release history[edit]
Band of Gypsys was re-released on compact disc in 1991 by Polydor Records in Europe and Japan.[126][127] In addition to the original tracks, it included three extra songs recorded during the Fillmore East shows:[79] "Hear My Train A Comin'" from the first show and "Foxy Lady" and the Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman song "Stop", both from the third show. These had been originally released in the US by Capitol Records in 1986 on the Band of Gypsys 2 album (despite the title, only half of the album's songs were recorded with Cox and Miles).[79] In 1997, when Band of Gypsys was re-released on CD in the US, Capitol only included the original six tracks.[128]
After Experience Hendrix, a family-managed company, assumed control of his recording legacy, more material from the Fillmore shows has been issued. A longer version of "We Gotta Live Together", along with "Hear My Train", "Stop", and other songs are included on the 1999 double CD Live at the Fillmore East.[129] "Foxy Lady" was added to one version of the 2013 "Somewhere" single.[130] An additional three songs from the second Fillmore show are included on West Coast Seattle Boy.[131] In 2016, the first show was issued as Machine Gun: The Fillmore East First Show.[132] The box set Songs for Groovy Children: The Fillmore East Concerts, released in 2019, contains 43 songs from all four shows.[133] In addition to new recordings, it presents longer versions of "Changes", "Power to Love" (as "Power of Soul"), and "We Gotta Live Together".[134]
The trio was filmed performing two of the songs that are included on the original album. Black and white footage for part of "Who Knows" was filmed by Woody Vasulka from the hall, while Jan Blom shot "Machine Gun" from the balcony.[135] It was later included on the 1999 DVD documentary Band of Gypsys: Live at the Fillmore East.[136]
Footnotes
Citations
References