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| Photo Credit: Mark Johansen |
One way to assess the breadth of Jimi Hendrix’s enduring influence on music is to look at some of the guitarists he’s inspired. Here’s a list of 10 — some obvious, some not — who have not only carried on Jimi’s licks and tricks, but subscribed to his artistic message: “be yourself.”
Ron Asheton: The late Iggy & the Stooges guitarist’s rock-star ideal was Brian Jones, but proto-punk hero Asheton learned how to overdrive a stack of Marshalls from Jimi. And he did that with a wide variety of guitars including the Gibson Les Paul Junior.
Pete Cosey: This Chicago jazz kingpin did sessions for Chess Records, including Muddy Waters’ controversial Electric Mud, before signing on with jazz legend Miles Davis from 1973 to ’75. That was the height of Miles’ period of Hendrix-influenced sonic exploration, and Cosey was the perfect choice. He plays like a screaming demon on the live, improvisation-driven Davis discs Agharta and Pangaea, employing a wall of distortion and effects. Cosey continues to explore this music today with his band Children of Agharta.
Robert Fripp: For a seemingly buttoned-down gent, the once and future leader of art rock pioneers King Crimson can play some entirely unhinged guitar. And during his solo “Frippertronics” tours in the ’80s he frequently confessed that the reason he became an electric guitarist is “Purple Haze,” and played its signature intro on one of his black Gibson Les Pauls.
Ernie Isley: The string-slinging member of R&B giants the Isley Brothers was the first player to overtly adopt Hendrix’s dress code as well as his sound, employing the Octavia, phase shifter, Cry Baby wah-wah, and Big Muff distortion pedal. He looks more conservative today, but when he performs the group’s 1973 Top 10 hit “That Lady” it’s still full-tilt Jimi boogie.
Richard Lloyd: Half of Television’s guitar twisting tag team, Lloyd hid his Hendrix influence during the punk era, which his band helped usher in at New York City’s famed CBGB’s. But Lloyd actually knew Jimi and got lessons from a friend who studied with the psychedelic master. Lloyd’s new The Jamie Neverts Story is a tribute to that friend and to Hendrix, covering 10 of Jimi’s songs including “Are You Experienced?”
Frank Marino: This Canadian Gibson SG wielder has made a career of carrying Jimi’s psychedelic torch, most notably on the 1977 album World Anthem and at 1978’s California Jam II festival, where Marino and his band Mahogany Rush tore out a scalding “Purple Haze.”
Prince: The look, the sexy psychedelic sound, the ferociously effortless and consistently mind-bending solos — Prince is one of the most overtly Jimi-rific guys around. Don’t debate it; just listen to “Let’s Go Crazy’s” brilliant crescendo and think about how easily it would have fit into Electric Ladyland’s “House Burning Down.”
Vernon Reid: The Living Coloür feedback wrangler’s a perfect example of Jimi’s message of identity. And Reid’s spoken many times of how Hendrix inspired him to discover his own style. That even applies when Living Coloür’s covering a Hendrix number, like “Power of Soul,” which gets a major overhaul whenever the group performs it.
Robin Trower: When Trower fell under Hendrix’s spell he jettisoned a style that had already made him a hit-maker with Procul Harum, outfitting himself with the same gear as Jimi and continuing Hendrix’s work with soundscapes in his own compositions like the lush tonal odyssey “Bridge of Sighs”.
Stevie Ray Vaughan: Vernon Reid describes Stevie Ray “Albert King filtered through Jimi Hendrix,” and that’s as accurate as any tag on the late guitar great. The proof’s in Stevie’s performances, especially live, of Hendrix classics like “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” “Third Stone from the Sun,” and “Little Wing.”