“Come and say hi to Jimi...
” Chas Chandler led me through the crowd here to celebrate Chas’s birthday. We were partying in Ringo Starr’s flat, in Montague Square. And crouched on the floor, looking sad and lonely, was the future of rock’n’roll, .
Jimi held out his hand but looked confused, surrounded by all these noisy English guys. Chas, the ex-Animals bassist who had become Hendrix’s manager, had set him up with a group to rival and , and told me excitedly: “They’re called The Experience, man. You’ve gotta see them.
And Jimi is fan-tastic.” Jimi and his new friends Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding began jamming at London clubs soon after I met Jimi at the party, which took place just two days after the release of , on Sunday, December 18. Also welcoming Jimi were , Zoot Money, Andy Summers, Brian Auger, Alan Price and Bill Wyman.
Chas had invited “just a few friends” and 40 people had turned up. (Chas got thrown out of the flat the next day.) Three days later I saw what at all the fuss was about when The Experience played at Blaises Club, Queensgate, on December 21.
The gambling casino in a hotel basement was reached by a narrow flight of iron steps. As I hurried past tables full of serious-looking dudes in eyeshades, dealing cards, I found a low-ceilinged room with barely enough space to swing a guitar. I had been to see at the Upper Cut, an East End club in Forest Gate earlier that evening, and already been blown away by a ferocious .
Now I was ab.