The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Jimi Hendrix: guitar, voice
b. James Marshall Hendrix, 27 November 1942, Seattle;
d. 18 September 1970, London
Mitch Mitchell: drums
b. John Mitchell, 9 June 1947, Ealing
d. 12 November 2008, Portland, Oregon
Noel Redding: bass
b. Noel David Redding, 25 December 1945, Folkstone, Kent
d. 11 May 2003, Clonakilty, Ireland
 
1959 (Age 16-17)
Enlists in US Army
 
1961 (Age 18-19)
Discharged after parachuting injuries; begins working under pseudonym, Jimmy James with Sam Cooke, B.B.King, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Ike and Tina Turner, and Wilson Pickett
1964 (Age 21-22)
Moves to NYC where he works with King Curtis, the Isley Brothers, John Hammond Jr., and Curtis Knight
 
1965 (Age 22-23)
Forms Jimmy James and the Blue Flames
 
1966 (Age 23-24)
5 July. Chas Chandler (on the final Animals tour) hears Hendrix at the Café Wha, a club in Greenwich Village.
24 September. Takes Hendrix to London where he begins to transform him into a psychedelic blues artist. Chas Chandler and Michael Jeffrey become Hendrix’s co-managers.
Chandler auditions musicians for the Jimi Hendrix Experience
29 September. Noel Redding, expecting to audition as guitarist for the "New Animals," becomes the bass player.
1 October. Hendrix jams with Cream.
6 October. Mitch Mitchell [previously with Chris Sandford, The Riot Squad, Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames] becomes the drummer.
Chandler and Jeffrey sign Hendrix with Kit Lambert’s record label, Track. They will market Hendrix back to the US as a British artist.
16 December. "Hey Joe" / "Stone Free" (Polydor 56139) Released, UK 6
 
1967 (Age 24-25)
17 March. "Purple Haze" / "51st Anniversary" (Track 604 001). Released, UK3.
5 May. "The Wind Cries Mary" / "Highway Chile" (Track 604 004). Released, UK6.
12 May. Are You Experienced?(LP released; UK #2, US #5)
Side One Side Two
"Foxy Lady" "May This Be Love"
"Manic Depression" "Fire"
"Red House" "Third Stone from the Sun"
"Can You See Me" "Are You Experienced"
"Love or Confusion"  
"I Don't Live Today"  
18 June. Appearance at Monterey Pop Festival; put on program at Paul McCartney’s insistence.
8 July. Begins brief tour with the Monkees
19 August. "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" / "The Stars that Play with Laughing Sam's Dice" (Track 604 007) UK18
1 December. Axis: Bold As Love (LP released; UK5, US3).
13 December. "Foxy Lady" / "Hey Joe" [US release; Reprise 0641]
22 December. Christmas on Earth Continued (concert at Grand & National Halls, London; with the Who, Eric Burdon and the Animals, the Move, Pink Floyd, Keith West & Tomorrow, Soft Machine, Paper Blitz Tissue, Traffic, Graham Bond Organization, Sam Gopal Dream, Jeffrey Shaw & the Plastic Circus.
photo: Green's Playhouse (poster)
 
1968 (Age 25-26)
February. "Up from the Skies" [Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, October 29, 1967] / "One Rainy Wish"
18 May: Miami Pop Festival
Over the course of the next year the Experience will fall apart under pressure from co-manager Michael Jeffrey (who wanted less avant garde and more rock) and black-power proponents (who saw him as manipulated by the white world).
The Experience increasingly appears with additional musicians (e.g., Al Kooper, Steve Winwood, Jack Casady, and Buddy Miles).
September. "All Along the Watchtower" / "Crosstown Traffic" (Track). UK #5
18 October. "All Along the Watchtower" / "Long Hot Summer Night" (Track 604 025) Released; UK #5
November: Electric Ladyland (2LP released; Track UK6, Reprise US1)
1969 (Age 26-27)
5 May. Hendrix arrested in in Toronto for possession of heroin.
11 April. "Crosstown Traffic" / "Gypsy Eyes" (Track 604 029) UK #37
29 June. Last official JHE concert; Noel Redding quits.
"Let Me Light Your Fire" / "Burning of the Midnight Lamp" (Track 604 033)
Psychedelic Pop Schedule Transatlantic Psychedelic Blues
  1-apr-15