Band of Gypsys

Jimi's short-lived post Experience band with Billy Cox and Buddy Miles, captured live at the Fillmore East. It may have been recorded to fulfill a contractual obligation to Capitol Records, but it proved to be one of his most powerful LPs with the menacing Machine Gun; Who Knows; Message of Love and more.

Tired of the showboating image that his early live performances had saddled him with--and that his black audience viewed as demeaning and degrading to his musical talent--Hendrix dissolved his Experience in 1969 in search of a more terra-firma-grounded, blues-oriented persona. On New Year's Eve, Hendrix, his old Army buddy bassist Billy Cox, and ex-Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles performed a loose, jam-filled set at New York's Fillmore East (completists will want the panoramic though uneven Live at the Fillmore East). Released a few months after his New Year's Eve 1970 concert, Band of Gypsys underscored Hendrix's desired return to basics--even if his basic was at a level most guitarists could never attain in a lifetime of playing. --Billy Altman