"Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision" More Hendrix From Experience Hendrix and Sony/Legacy

sorry this is late--was traveling

Friday, October 4 – Today marks the release of "Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision" by Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. in partnership with Legacy Recordings, the catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment. This deluxe box set available on 3CD/1 Blu-ray, or 5LP/1 Blu-ray includes the feature-length documentary of the same name, plus 39 tracks (38 previously unreleased) that were recorded by the new-look Jimi Hendrix Experience (Billy Cox on bass, Mitch Mitchell on drums) at Electric Lady Studios between June and August of 1970. The project also contains 20 newly created 5.1 surround sound mixes of the entire First Rays Of The New Rising Sun album plus three bonus tracks [“Valleys Of Neptune,” “Pali Gap,” and “Lover Man”]. Jimi Hendrix’s New York is a brand-new short film that serves as a companion to this massive project and has been made public today.

The feature-length documentary "Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision" (included in the box set of its namesake) is just coming off a successful global theatrical run. The film recounts the creation of the studio, rising from the rubble of a bankrupt Manhattan nightclub to becoming a state-of-the-art recording facility inspired by Hendrix’s desire for a permanent studio. Electric Lady Studios was the first-ever artist-owned commercial recording studio. Hendrix had first envisioned creating an experiential nightclub. He was inspired by the short-lived Greenwich Village nightspot Cerebrum whose patrons donned flowing robes and were inundated by flashing lights, spectral images and swirling sound. Hendrix so enjoyed the Cerebrum experience that he asked its architect John Storyk to work with him and his manager Michael Jeffery. Hendrix and Jeffery wanted to transform what had once been the Generation Club into ‘an electric studio of participation’. Shortly after acquiring the Generation Club lease however, Hendrix was steered from building a nightclub to creating a commercial recording studio.

Directed by John McDermott and produced by Janie Hendrix, George Scott and McDermott, the film features exclusive interviews with Steve Winwood (who joined Hendrix on the first night of recording at the new studio), Experience bassist Billy Cox and original Electric Lady staff members who helped Hendrix realize his dream. The documentary includes never-before-seen footage and photos as well as track breakdowns of Hendrix classics such as “Freedom,” “Angel” and “Dolly Dagger” by Eddie Kramer.

"Electric Lady Studios: A Jimi Hendrix Vision" explains in depth that while Hendrix’s death robbed the public of so much potential music, the continued success of his recording studio provides a lasting legacy beyond his own music. John Lennon, The Clash, AC/DC, Chic, David Bowie, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé and hundreds more made records at Electric Lady Studios, which speaks to one of Jimi’s lasting achievements in an industry that has radically changed over the course of the last half century.

Photo of Janie Hendrix, me and Eddie Kramer taken at Sterling Sound, NYC (corrected date: 1997!). This photo was taken during that time, when Kramer came to my previous home to hear it on my system. That was fun! I wuz 50.

Here's me 2010 at Sterling Sound holding a Bitches Brew master tape (I wuz 63):