This two disc/Blu-Ray of Jimi Hendrix’s Experience with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Billy Cox is part of setting the musical record straight. A handful of the tunes from Hendrix’s famous two 1970 concerts in Maui were on the posthumous Rainbow Bridge, but for the most part, this is all brand new music for the ears. There’s also the video Music, Money, Madness: Jimi Hendrix Live In Maui that documents the trio’s visit to Maui and how the whole catastrophic Rainbow Bridge film was put together.
The story is fascinating, but the music is timeless, with the amazing part (judging by the photos of the gig) being that the show was not that well attended. What, was surf up or something?
Hendrix is in great vocal form, giving an R&B feel to “Message of Love” and rocking out on “Foxey Lady”. His guitar work sears on “In from The Storm” and gives some rich wacka wooka as he stretches out on the hard hitting “Hear My Train A Coming”. His roots on the Delta blues gets deep as he teams with Cox on a riveting “Red House” as well as when he gets deep and rhythmic on “Straight Ahead.” Mitchell, who Jack DeJohnette said was jazz’s most underrated drummer, gives a jazzy pulse for Hendrix on the spacy “Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)/Midnight Lightning” and the crisply swing of “Fire”. All the hits like “Purple Haze”, “Stone Free” and a “more cowbell” take of “Dolly Dagger but Hendrix always makes things interesting, particularly on an exploratory “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” and the jazzy “Villanova Junction” that still sounds futuristic. As Chuck Wein says during the intro of the band, the music is “cosmic,” reflecting true sounds of the world.