ds he played behind The Isley Brothers, Little Richard and B.B. King. Eventually he moved to New York where he won the $25 first prize in the Apollo Theater amateur contest. But it was Linda Keith, girlfriend to one of the Rolling Stones, who stumbled upon Hendrix in a Manhattan disco. She put him in touch with Chas Chandler, former basist for the Animals and fledgling record producer. Chandler promised Hendrix that if he would move to London, he would make him a star. Hendrix got on the airplane. In a shrewd marketing move, Chandler hired two white English musicians to back Hendrix on drums and bass. What emerged was a unique multi-racial, multi-national rock trio, powered by Hendrix' incredible guitar playing. Within a matter of a few months London was at their feet. Eric Clapton was so smitten he had his hair redone to closely approximate Jimi's "afro." The Beatles became backstage worshippers, calling on Hendrix when given the opportunity. Rolling Stone Brian Jones flew to California to introduce Hendrix at his American debut with the Monterey pop festival. On stage Jimi burned his Fender Stratocaster. Rock and Roll history would never be the same.After that it was a creative tightrope act. His first two albums are explorations of such musical intensity that it's hard to fathom that until then the young guitarist had never published a song. Chandler had simply sat Hendrix down and explained to him that to further his career he'd have to do an album of original material. It was like telling the young Keats that the time had finally come for the poetry. In a few months Hendrix poured out a series of compositional masterpieces concealed in the guise of rock and roll tunes. Anyone who has heard the Kronos string quartet do their rendition of Purple Haze understands that beyond pop star, there was a bigger game afoot.Maybe the game was too big. In a shrewd and respectful analysis of Hendrix' entitled Crosstown Traffic, English writer Cha...
