Mér datt í hug að skella inn ritgerð um Jimi Hendrix sem ég gerði í Ensku fyrir um ári. Hún er kannski ekkert mjög innihaldsrík en fín ritgerð samt sem áður.

Prolouge

Here afterwards I am going to write about the book Jimi Hendrix, the man, the magic, the truth, which is about the life of the guitar god Jimi Hendrix. I’m going to tell shortly about his life, and then I’m going to write about the book itself. I hope you will enjoy the reading.

Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix (Jimi Hendrix) was born on the 27th of November in the year 1942, his parents were Al Hendrix and Lucille Jeter Hendrix, his younger brother Leon was born couple of years later. Jimi didn’t have a good childhood. His parents were poor, his father was in the army and Jimi didn’t meet him until he was 3 years old and on top of that his mother died very young. Jimi got his first guitar when he was something between the age of 10 and 12 (a cheap acoustic) and he got his first electric guitar at the age of 14. He signed himself in the army in 1961 and spent a couple of years there, in the army he met Billy Cox a man who would later work with him as a bass player. Jimi left the army in 1963 but things didn’t get better for him, he ended up in the streets with no money. It was not until late 1966 that Jimi got his first actual “break”, that was when he met Chas Chandler, a former bassist of The Animals which were part of the socalled “British Invasion” in the sixties. Chas decided to manage him along with Micheal Jeffery. Now all that Jimi needed was a band, he soon got the drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding to join him and together they formed The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The Experience played it’s first gig in France. They acclaimed international fame in 1967 and released two albums that year, Are You Experienced (May) and Axis: Bold As Love (December). It was in 1968 that they released Electric Ladyland, which is said to be one of the best rock albums ever and The Experience’s greatest album. In 1969 Noel Redding quit the Experience and later The Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up. Summer ’69 Jimi appeared on the Woodstock festival with Billy Cox (his former army buddy) and Mitch Mitchell as Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. In the fall/winter that same year Jimi formed Band Of Gypsys a trio of black musicians including Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums. The group performed four shows on new years eve and new years day at the Fillmore East but broke up soon after. A music festival was held on the Isle of Wight in summer ’70, and Jimi appeared there with Mitch and Billy again as Gypsy Sun and Rainbows. Not alot of things happened in summer/fall 1970, except maybe that Jimi toured with The Rolling Stones for some time. But on the 18th of September a tragic thing happened, Jimi Hendrix was declared dead on St. Mary Abbott’s hospital in London England. He had been dead on arrival. Jimi Hendrix died at the top of his career, his time as a real musician was very short, only about five-six years. He was an extraordinary musician and his music will live forever.

After words

The book Jimi Hendrix, the man, the magic, the truth is a very good book, it is exciting, historically correct (I think so) and very informing. It describes the life and times of this musical genius very well. The only flaw that I can see about this book is that it doesn’t focus much on his childhood, I would have wanted to read more about that. But the reason I think that it isn’t focused much on that is because this was written by a journalist and a friend of his, and it says in the book that he wasn’t very willing to talk about his childhood. Jimi Hendrix was a great man and his legacy will live on forever.

R.I.P Jimi Hendrix