Years before Jimi Hendrix made it big, he backed a host of other artists, including Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, Slim Harpo, and Wilson Pickett.
Footage from this period is, sadly (but understandably), rare. Which is why the video below is so special.
The clip shows Hendrix backing a duo called Buddy & Stacey on a spirited rendition of Junior Walker’s Shotgun. It’s from a 1965 episode of Night Train.
We never get a good, clean look at Jimi, who stands in the back line, between the drummer and the other guitarist, right in front of his Fender amp. One can’t help but wish that Buddy & Stacy – aka Buddy Travis and Leroy “Stacey” Johnson Jr. – could’ve danced a little to the right… or maybe even off camera somewhere.
Although Jimi is purely a sideman at this point in his career, you can hear – and feel – him being, well, Jimi Hendrix, starting around the 1:29 mark, when he riffs back and forth with the sax player. It’s obvious he’s dying to remove his backing-musician muzzle and go crazy.
Last month, Guitar World sat down for a chat with Ernie Isley, during which the guitar great gave insight into Hendrix’s pre-fame days.
Though it would be a couple of years before the guitarist would break out on his own, Isley said that Hendrix’s electrifying abilities were already apparent.
“My brothers had another guitar player who decided to quit in a huff, so they were looking for a replacement,” Isley recounted. “Long story short, they heard there was this guy in Greenwich Village who played better than anybody. This was like 1963, and you heard a lot of musicians, but nobody played guitar like him, so they hired him.
“After they hired him, he didn’t have a place to stay. We had a spare room at our mother’s house, and they said, ‘You can stay here.’ He came into the house, had this brand-new guitar in a case, and they said, ‘Ma, this is the new guitar player we just hired, Jimi Hendrix.’ They said, ‘This is our mother and little brother.’ It wasn’t boring. It wasn’t boring at all.”
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