Listen to Jimi Hendrix Jam Two Days Before His Death
A restored clip of Jimi Hendrix jamming in a London club two days before his death appears in an upcoming documentary.
It’s taken from a tape recorded by an audience member at Ronnie Scott’s jazz venue on Sep. 16, 1970, when Hendrix guested with Eric Burdon’s War and performed “Mother Earth” and “Tobacco Road” with them.
The clip from the movie Ronnie’s can be seen below.
Director Oliver Murray told Rolling Stone it had taken a while to locate Bill Baker, who made the recording using a large reel-to-reel tape machine he’d sneaked into the club. The documentary team were able to clean up the original audio and push Hendrix’s guitar to the front. “It’s unmistakably Jimi from the moment he takes the stage,” Murray said. “His touch and tone is unique to this day even after the hordes of players who have tried to replicate it. It’s so lyrical and fits right in with the colorful, jazz-tinged jam that Eric Burdon and War are laying on for the audience.”
In the clip, War guitarist Howard Scott describes the moment as one to treasure for all time, but adds: “The next night, we got word that after the set, Jimi had died. It was a terrible thought right there that I was the last guitarist to play with him.”
Ronnie’s can be seen in select theaters and via digital channels on Feb. 11. Producers Greenwich Entertainment called it a “chronicle of the life of saxophonist Ronnie Scott, from poor, Jewish kid in the East End of London to owner of the legendary night club” in a statement, adding that it features “glorious performances by jazz greats, including Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Nina Simone, Van Morrison, Chet Baker, and others.”
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