“I don’t think I’ve ever played such long solos in my life!”: Paul Gilbert’s unplanned 1991 tribute to Jimi Hendrix is being released digitally for the first time
When your entire set falls through at the very last minute, what do you do? Go out and perform some crowd-pleasing Jimi Hendrix covers, of course. That’s exactly what Paul Gilbert did when a health emergency rendered blues guitarist Albert Collins unable to join him onstage at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival back in 1991.
Despite the panic that coloured the few hours Gilbert had to practice the impromptu set, the unplanned tribute to Hendrix was a huge success. In fact, it was so good that it’s now being released digitally, to mark the 25 year anniversary of the marvellous set that happened by pure chance.
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Originally, Gilbert and Collins were set to headline the festival with a joint set. When Collins was forced to pull out, the promoters begged Gilbert to go out and perform regardless. “The promoter was panicking and asked me to be the headlining act instead,” Gilbert explains [via Guitar World]. “I didn’t have a band with me. And I didn’t have any solo material prepared.”
However, Gilbert improvised. He recruited a bassist and drummer from the band Ten Years After, and then the trio started brainstorming. They quickly discovered a common ground in Hendrix. “The only thing I could think to do was to quickly rehearse some Jimi Hendrix songs,” Gilbert admits.
The crux of the issue, however, was still the time restraints. So Gilbert came up with an ingenious plan: “I had to make the solos long enough to fill up a whole set… I told the promoter, ‘We only have time to learn 5 songs, so I’m going to have to play REALLY LONG SOLOS.’”
That’s how Gilbert and two parts of Ten Years After ended up onstage having only prepared five Hendrix songs. However, the limited setlist of Red House, Hey Joe, Highway Chile, Midnight and Purple Haze was scattered with plenty of long, self-indulgent solos – and it went down a storm. “It turned out great,” Gilbert recalls. “I don’t think I’ve ever played such long solos in my life!”
“In the end, the pressure of pulling everything together quickly in front of an audience,” he adds. “And being worry-free about endless guitar jamming may actually have brought me closer to Hendrix’s spirit than if I had planned everything while sitting in a chair.”
Gilbert goes on to praise Hendrix’s music for lending itself so well to a good ol’ jam. “Jimi’s songs are such great vehicles for jamming,” he notes. “His writing invites musicians to play with each other and listen to each other. The songs are flexible enough to allow musicians to keep their own style and still make the song work.”
Gilbert’s Tribute To Jimi Hendrix album is set to drop on 12 June. The first track, Purple Haze, is available now.
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Source: www.guitar-bass.net
