Bloomfield Tribute to Hendrix

Описание: It was 38 years ago today that the popular music world lost one of its great contributors, guitarist Michael Bloomfield. Bloomfield was only 37 when he died of an accidental drug overdose in 1981, but his contributions to 1960s blues and rock can't be overstated. An innovator himself, Michael also admired the other great '60s groundbreaker, the incredible Jimi Hendrix. As evidence of that fact, here's a clip from an audience tape of the last big festival Bloomfield played with his original brass rock band, the Electric Flag. Michael dedicates a tune to Hendrix, calling him "Jimi the Fox," an indication that he may have felt Hendrix was as much a rock ’n’ roll trickster as he was a musical genius. What follows is the Flag's dramatic arrangement of "Hey Joe." The song had been a top ten hit for Hendrix in England in early 1967 and the Flag’s drummer, Buddy Miles, who sings it here, had jammed on it with Hendrix numerous times in 1967 and '68. This clip will be familiar to most Bloomfield fans as it's been shared by collectors for many years, but the images that accompany it were all taken at the San Jose Pop Festival on May 18, 1968, when the clip was recorded. The tape is distorted in places and Bloomfield's tuning is a bit off, but it's a fascinating and virtuosic tribute from one great guitarist to another. Rest in peace, Michael Bloomfield!