jimi hendrix (231 words)

Jimi HendrixJimi Hendrix perhaps no other rock-and-roll trailblazer was
as original or as influential in such a short span of time as
Jimi Hendrix. Widely acknowledged as one of the most daring and
inventive virtuosos in rock history, Hendrix pioneered the
electric guitar (he played a right-handed Fender Stratocaster–
his “Electric Lady”–upside-down and left-handed) as an
electronic sound source capable of feedback, distortion, and a
host of other effects that could be crafted into an articulate
and fluid emotional vocabulary. And though he was on the scene as
a solo artist for less than five years, Hendrix is credited for
having a profound effect on everyone from George Clinton and
Miles Davis to guitarists Stevie Ray Vaughan and Vernon Reid.

Born Johnny Allen Hendrix on November 27, 1942, Hendrix’s father,
James “Al” Hendrix, later changed his son’s name to James
Marshall. Young Jimi taught himself to play the guitar during his
schoolboy days in Seattle, drawing influence from blues legends
like B.B. King and Robert Johnson. He slung his guitar over his
back and left home to enlist in the 101st Division of the Air
Force (the “Screaming Eagles”), where he served as a parachute
jumper until an injury led to his discharge. Hendrix then began
working as a session guitarist under the name Jimmy James,
playing behind such marquee acts as Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina
Turner, and the Isley Brothers. After gigging extensively with
Little Richard in 1964, Hendrix became entangle…