Hendrix

             hearts and minds of the audience. That song became the prominence of Woodstock.
             and a defining moment that would be recalled time and time again. This was his .
             challenge to American foreign policy, it was his response to a nation torn apart by.
             Vietnam. It became the finest piece of rock and roll to emerge from the 1960's and.
             even now nobody has topped it. As rock guitarist Vernon Reid recalled in a 1989.
             reminiscence, "At that moment he became one of the greats like Coltrane, or Parker,.
             or Dolphy. He plugged into something deep, something beyond good or bad playing. .
             It was just there it is'-(Piccoli 20). Despite his premature death in London before his.
             twenty eighth birthday, Jimi Hendrix produced an innovative playing style that has.
             influenced a multitude of later musicians and revolutionized rock and roll music during.
             the 1960's.
             James Marshall Hendrix grew up as deprived insignificant child but would.
             eventually be remembered as an ingenious musician who left his mark on the world.
             He was born in Seattle on November 27, 1942 and at age sixteen Hendrix bought his.
             first guitar for five dollars. It was a secondhand acoustic model that was a balancing.
             element to his scarred childhood of his parents divorce, his unpredictable schooling.
             and his mother's death in 1958. In 1959, Hendrix joined his first band, the Rocking.
             Kings. He learned to play by listening to R&B artists such as B.B. King and the.
             Chicago blues of Muddy Waters and Elmore James (Gregory150). Entirely.
             self-taught, Jimi Hendrix's inability to read music made him concentrate even harder.
             on the music he could hear. Due to this hindrance, it is nothing short of remarkable.
             that his meteoric rise in the music took place in just four short years (Pesant 1). After.
             an aborted career as an army parachutist, Hendrix hit the road for seven years and.
             became a session guitarist. Using the pseudonym Jimmy James, he began to back.
             artists like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, the Impressions, Little Richard, and the Isley.