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Jimi Hendrix was one of the greatest icons of the 1960s. His death in 1970 still stands as one of the crucial events in the history of rock music. His work may be less important, as too many of his albums were below average. Hendrix was, after all, one of the most exploited artists of all times (many more albums were released after his death than during his lifetime). Hendrix made only two amazing albums: the first and the third, Are You Experienced (1967) and Electric Ladyland (1968). His greatest achievement was to coin a new guitar style, a style that amounted to a declaration of war against western harmony. Born at the crossroad between Chicago's blues, Memphis soul and Charlie Christian's jazz improvisation, Hendrix's style was an excruciating torture of tonal music. A black man, Hendrix always used the blues as the basis for his improvisation, but then used the whole human body to play and distort the sound of the guitar. The guitar became a sacrificial total for an entire generation. A cosmic hymn such as Third Stone From The Sun was fueled towards higher dimensions by the heroic guitar workout. The blues agony of jams such as Voodoo Chile was pushed to new psychological levels by the endless guitar pyrotechnics. Tracks such as 1983 borrowed from free-jazz and avantgarde music to achieve a form of "sound painting". On the album Band Of Gypsys (1970) Hendrix was indulging in endless acrobatics. Hendrix's guitar opened new doors to experimental music. His lesson would be applied not only to guitar but also to keyboards and to whatever instrument would lead a rock song.
Hendrix's case as a guitarist is unique in the history of modern music: Hendrix leads the "polls" of critics worldwide, even among jazz critics. Such a unanimity does not exist for singers or drummers or keyboardists.
His legacy as a guitarist is comparable to Beethoven's legacy as a symphonist.
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