Stone free

My brother Terry phoned me just before 10 o'clock this morning to tell me that Mitch Mitchell, the drummer with The Jimi Hendrix Experience, died yesterday. Sad news. As I took the call I was sitting with Stuart the guitar repair man in the Starbucks coffee shop off Tottenham Court Road- he was just telling me how he'd 'had a look' at Hendrix's 'Woodstock Strat' for Mitch when he sold it...

I saw him play once, at Brunel University in Uxbridge in the late '70's. He was part of Hinkley's Heroes, a loose amalgam of players and friends who at that time also included ex-Joe Cocker and Wings guitarist Henry McCullough, and then-current Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell. I remember that when he was introduced to the audience he started to play a drum solo but then stopped, came around to the front of the kit, and did a tap dance instead; he had plimsolls on so it didn't really work (!) although I seem to recall that they tried to mike his feet up, but to no avail. This, more than any other incident, contributed to my inability to take drum solos seriously- so I'm grateful to him for that if nothing else. But there was more, much more to it all than that- as a member of The Jimi Hendrix Experience he arguably helped transform pop music from something that was not taken particularly seriously by 'real' music fans (whoever 'they' are and whatever 'that' is) into rock music, with all that that entails, good and bad. Listening to their recordings today it seems to me that Mitch's drumming- often as extraordinary as Jimi's guitar playing- always provided a backdrop which combined with Noel Redding's rock-solid bass playing to give Hendrix the ultimate platform from which his almost unlimited capacity for musical and sonic innovation would allow him to change the sound of the electric guitar forever. There's any number of moments to remember, but how about the drum fill just before the vocals come in on 'Little Wing'- you just couldn't imagine the song without it could you?- or his performance on 'Fire' which rivals Keith Moon at his best for invention, energy and intensity. Then there's 'Up From The Skies', 'Manic Depression', 'Crosstown Traffic'...

The rock music world has lost one of it's most influential and brilliant musicians. Cheers Mitch- and thanks for doing what you did, when you did it. It really wouldn't- couldn't- have been the same without you. Now if you'll all excuse me, I'm off to watch the 'Monterey Pop' DVD...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Mitchell