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Classic Albums Live: Jimi Hendrix

Classic Albums Live: Jimi Hendrix

 

By David DeRocco

 It’s one thing to be asked to walk in the footsteps of a god. It’s quite another to be asked to recreate his masterwork. When the deity in question is the immortal Jimi Hendrix, you can see the challenge a guitarist must face when asked to play note perfect renditions of the songs on  Are You Experienced for Classic Albums Live.

 “When I started playing the guitar at age 12 it was because of the song “Little Wing” which I heard just randomly,” explains Clifton David Broadbridge, the 38-year-old guitarist tasked with emulating Hendrix on stage. “It absolutely resonated with me, the colours, the imagination. I’ve been chasing my tail trying to understand the music of Jimi Hendrix ever since. Every time I listen to it I hear something new or learn something new.”

Widely regarded as one of the greatest debut albums in music history, Are You Experienced introduced the world to Jimi’s unique guitar prowess and his incomparable fusion of rock, blues and jazz amplified for maximum impact.  Classic songs like “Foxy Lady,” “Manic Depression,” “Fire” and the seminal title track established Hendrix as the bar with which all future guitarists would be measured. To help him achieve a level of authenticity fans will demand of his guitar playing, Broadbridge turned to his recording studio partner Edwin H. “Eddie” Kramer, who served as recording engineer on the four albums Hendrix released before his untimely death in 1970.

“Through Eddie I’ve developed a far greater understanding of the music, how they recorded it, how they mixed it, Jimi’s headspace through the different albums, what was going on through the recording of different songs. It was unlike anything else. That’s the one thing  you have to keep in mind when performing this music, it’s just an insane hybrid of influences all thrown in.”

Another benefit of having Kramer as a studio partner is hearing the stories about the recording sessions with Hendrix according to Broadbridge.

“I remember Eddie telling me that when (Jimi Hendrix & The Experience) came into the studio, all these wild guys with their puffy hair, the studio manager said to Eddie, ‘you like that crazy stuff, why don’t you handle it?’ The whole time they were just trying to do anything and everything they could. They had after-hour keys to the studio to do what they wanted. Jimi was trying everything. He had his microphones a few feet back from his amps, and levels were set to rattle the walls. The version of “Wind Cries Mary” on the album is take one. Think about that, the first take. That’s how fast this stuff was going by, I don’t think they even had time to think about it.”

In addition to the disparate musical influences he has to incorporate into his performance with Classic Albums, Broadbridge has to recreate the unconventional playing style of Hendrix, an ambidextrous player who often played his guitar upside down.

“Sometimes when he’s playing he’s picking the notes up near the neck of the guitar, sometimes he’s picking notes down near the bridge to get a certain tone. He wrote songs with his right hand, played guitar with his left. He had both hemispheres of his brain going on in a very peculiar way. When I listen to some of the things he did I scratch my head. It’s almost like I’m starting the guitar at ground zero.”

While Broadbridge has mastered his role as guitarist, don’t come to the show expecting to see Hendrix incarnate. As with all Classic Albums Live performances, Jimi Hendrix Are You Experienced is about recreating the music not the look of the band they’re honouring.

“With Classic Albums Live we dress in black. I don’t look anything like Jimi Hendrix so that’s probably a good thing. We just focus on having the audience lose themselves in the layers of the music. We’re replicating studio albums as opposed to trying to be a tribute band.”