“Jimi, if we want to get this done, we need to clear out the riff-raff”: how Hendrix’s “hangers-on” distracted his musical process
Jimi Hendrix’s recording sessions had a reputation for being chaotic, to say the least. According to guitarist Terry Reid, Hendrix was the “gentlest guy” but he was consistently “surrounded by freeloaders”.
In a new interview with The Globe and Mail, producer Eddie Kramer recalls his working relationship with the late guitar icon, as well as exactly what went on during some of those disorderly sessions.
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He remembers the “instinctive connection” he and Jimi Hendrix shared, which had to have proved useful given the “riff-raff” surrounding them, as he puts it.
“He didn’t talk about music in technical terms; he used colours,” the 82-year-old producer says. “He’d say, ‘I need more purple,’ or, ‘Let’s add some green here.’ For him, reverb was green, distortion was red and each song had its own palette. It wasn’t just about notes or chords – it was about creating a feeling, painting a picture in sound.
“I haven’t really found that same language with anyone else. With Jimi, I’d just know what he meant. It was a kind of shorthand that made our sessions incredibly dynamic.”
He continues, describing Hendrix’s recording sessions as “like walking into a circus run by a mad genius”.
“There were always people around – hangers-on, musicians, a constant stream of characters. One time during the Electric Ladyland sessions, there were 30 people crammed into the control room, just hanging out, drinking, smoking, making noise.
“I finally said, ‘Jimi, if we want to get this done, we need to clear out the riff-raff.’ He sighed and said, ‘Yeah, man, you’re right.’ We kicked everyone out except for me, him and the tape op. The minute it was quiet, he nailed the track in one take.”
He concludes: “That’s what it was like – chaos swirling around, but Jimi could hone in and find laser focus. It was the same intensity you saw in his live performances, but even more concentrated.”
This isn’t the first time someone close to Jimi Hendrix has described the “freeloaders” who would often join him in the studio. Back in August, a recording engineer who worked at Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studios around the time of his death in 1970 recalled people taking equipment from the facility in the days afterward. “I saw a white Strat walk out the door,” he recounts.
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