new music: stream a never before heard early recording from jimi hendrix #soundcheck

Before Jimi Hendrix was Jimi Hendrix, he was Johnny Allen Hendrix, a young hired gun R&B guitarist, working with Little Richard and the Isley Brothers. In 1965, the young Hendrix signed a contract with RSVP Records for $1.00 and 1% of royalties with his then band Curtis Knight and the Squires. The band recorded a few cuts together, but failed to go anywhere. Within 2 years, he was the star of the counterculture rebellion with the Experience, and RSVP Records head Ed Chaplin tried to repackage Hendrix’s work with Curtis Knight and the Squires as proper Jimi Hendrix albums. The Hendrix estate sued to keep them out of release, and for 40 years, many of these recordings have been unheard. Listen here!

By Nathan Leigh, AFROPUNK Contributor 

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Original Jimi Hendrix Experience producer Eddie Kramer has spent years remastering and editing these lost recordings, resulting in the forthcoming You Can’t Use My Name: Curtis Knight & The Squires (Featuring Jimi Hendrix).While some songs have appeared on various compilations and bootlegs over the years, the instrumental “Station Break” has never been heard by anyone outside of the people who were in the room at the time of recording. The guitar-led track features a prototype of Hendrix’s inimitable style; it’s easy to hear that with a little distortion and a wah pedal, this Booker T. and the M.G.s inspired cut could pass for a proper Hendrix instrumental. As it is, it’s an important document in the development one of the greatest guitarists to ever pick up the instrument, and stands alone as a dope 60’s R&B instrumental.