Reply #45: Here's The Thing, Wat

[ProfessorGAC]

I'm not a huge fan of Jimi either, but had i never heard a live performance, i probably would have been. His studio work (at least after the first album) is impeccably produced, and the sounds are all terrific. He was an innovator in getting sounds out of the guitar that were atypical of the time, so he rose to legend status because he made other players at the time say "How's he doing that?" He was among the very first who figured out that one could do something completely different if the amp was really loud, so he could play things with different volumes and evoke completely different moods.

However, i've seen several live tapes or DVD's of him and his bands. They are almost universally dreadful. I don't know when he was stoned and when he wasn't, but the bands themselves, even when Buddy Miles was in the band, were sloppy, and meandering. (Meandering is ok if the rhythms are kept crisp.) Maybe it was the dope, i don't know, but his playing lacks passion and precision on the live stuff. That turned me off to him more than his studio work turned me on. But, i still recognize the studio work for what it was.

His sacred cow status exists because he took guitar somewhere where it hadn't been, and then died before he could fully reach his potential. Like i said, i'm not a huge fan because of the slop, but i'm also pretty darned sure he had not stopped getting better. Lots of guys quit getting better, quit exploring the instrument, quit expanding their vocabulary once they've "made it". I didn't hear that from him. The posthumous studio stuff was probably the best thing he ever did. So, he was clearly becoming a better musician and guitar player.

Perhaps, had he lived, he would have even figured out that the best musicians can carry it out live as a band. (Whole being bigger than the sum of the parts.) Had that happened, i imagine i would have been a pretty big fan.
The Professor