Wow, on September 18, 2020 marked the 50th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s passing. He has been called the greatest rock guitarist of all time, but music should never be a competition.  There’s no scoring, there are no wins and no losses.  All I know is that from a very young age whenever I heard his guitar playing, I knew even then I wanted to play guitar. His sound was otherworldly and then in the next instant sounding like it was coming from the earth itself. Just like John Coltrane a few years before, they both took their respective instruments, deconstructed them, and put them back together to create a new sound and raised the bar of musical expectations from then on.  

There have been countless books written about Jimi because of his charismatic stage performances, clothing, and outlook on life; trying to live free and create music was his only sole purpose.  His inspiration to me was mostly his guitar playing, timing, compositions, and lyrics. I never tried to play just like him, but he enthralled me so that it made me thirsty to play his magical notes and chords so I could experience them for myself. I bought every one of his albums and started collecting live performances and trading in the circles along with collecting Coltrane at the same time. Few know that he had his guitar with him practically at all times and played everywhere any anywhere. He even slept with his guitar! It became an extension of himself where he could exhale all he absorbed in the world around him and play it through his fingers in real-time. His Star-Spangled Banner from Woodstock is still relevant today, especially with all that is going on in the world and the disconnect in our country.

My playing has been a long journey. The idea that took the longest for me to realize and appreciate, both in my guitar playing and painting, is to trust your instincts and just let go. It is very liberating to open up those hidden channels and let them flow freely.  You will be surprised at what you can do.

I wanted to create a dedication piece as a tribute to Jimi that includes all the colors of the rainbow because that’s how I describe his music. I also wanted to fashion the piece into a 12-inch album format as an abstract record cover that captures his energy. By the way, I am trying out my new acrylic gouaches for the first time with this piece. I love the dense, vibrant pigments.

“Free Form of Freedom”