If you haven't heard by now that September 18th, marked the 40th anniversary since the passing of Jimi Hendrix, you are probably not looking at this post either - so it really doesn't matter.

But if you do and you are, I can't think of a better tribute to him than to play one of his concerts. His studio recordings have been the stuff of legend and scrutiny practically since the day they were released. But to see him live was another situation entirely. Luckily, there's enough footage of him around to get a feel for what the live gigs were like, even if it's not quite the experience of actually being there. Nevertheless, Jimi Hendrix was a truly gifted musician and an icon for a generation - there's really no doubt about that. And this concert gives you at least a partial glimpse why.

So I found one of his concerts, recorded on May 24th 1969 in San Diego. This was a few months before the original Experience started going their separate ways (Noel Redding being the first to leave, having formed Fat Mattress in 1968) and a few months before Hendrix put together The Band Of Gypsies.

I'm sure, like all his unofficial material, it's been circulated all over the place. The sound on this one is pretty good (as many aren't). So as long as you couldn't be there (or were born way after it happened), this is probably the next best thing for now.

Enjoy and remember Jimi kindly.

I think just about everything Jimi Hendrix ever recorded has been preserved and reissued in one fashion or another. The BBC Sessions were re-issued in 1998 and are probably still in print.

But in the odd event you aren't familiar with them, here is a set recorded in session at the BBC on December 15, 1967.

The Jimi Hendrix Experience In Session At The BBC

December 15, 1967
1. Day Tripper
2. Spanish Castle Magic
3. Radio One
4. Wait Until Tomorrow

The inimitable Mr. Hendrix.

(Soft Machine - 1972 bore no resemblance to 1967)

By 1972 Soft Machine had undergone so many personnel and musical changes they really weren't the same band that opened for Jimi Hendrix in 1968. Most of the founding members had left. David Allen had been long gone, moving to France and forming Gong. Robert Wyatt had left and formed Matching Mole (which, if you twist it around a little bit, means Soft Machine in French), Kevin Ayers went solo and was enjoying a healthy success.

All in all, the wildly surreal parts of Soft Machine had gone and the hardcore prog/Experimental Jazz parts stayed. It took some getting used to and the band changed so much over the period of 1970-1973 that a lot of their old fan base left, but were replaced by a new one. Soft Machine by this time had blazed a trail in that area between what was later to be known as Progressive (or Prog-Rock) and Experimental and a lot of musicians were influenced by it. Taking the Free Jazz elements and applying them to rock riffs making a new genre that would be prevalent in the early to mid 1970's. And there was no looking back.

This concert, recorded at the Paris Theatre in 1972 comes about at the end of their stay with CBS Records (Soft Machine 3-7) and right in the middle of their free form/extended solo, instrumental period.

Not for all tastes, but from a historic point of view, crucial in what developed into an enduring genre.

(Soft Machine 1967 - high priests of Psychedelia)

Tonight it's what is considered to be the first psychedelic-era single to be released in England. Recorded in January and issued by Polydor in February of 1967, Love Makes Sweet Music by The Soft Machine pre-dates Pink Floyd's legendary See Emily Play by a month.

Not that it really makes much difference in the bigger picture. It's not a case of who got there first, but who got there at all. Popular music was going through massive changes at the time and there was a lot of resistance to anything as patently bizarre to the average listener as this was. Soft Machine were the tip of the iceberg that transformed the musical landscape in a period of months, almost weeks. Think of it - Soft Machine, quickly followed by Pink Floyd, quickly followed by Jimi Hendrix, and Traffic; all of them literally exploding on to the music scene. It made for some very interesting changes of mind. And frankly, it was one amazing amount of fun.

Before Soft Machine settled into becoming one of the premier Progressive bands in the later 1960s, they were one of the more experimental units to arrive on the scene. This first single, the only one they released for Polydor before linking up with Chas Chandler to produce their landmark first and second albums, was a combination of high energy pop with a flipside (Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin') that was pure psychedelia.

And from that point, there was no going back.

(Noel Redding - life after The Experience was different)

Noel Redding is probably best known these days as the Bass player in the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In 1969, when Hendrix went off in different directions, Redding, and drummer Mitch Mitchell would go off and form other bands. Redding with Fat Matress (which he'd formed a year earlier as a sort of side project), and later The Noel Redding Band. And Mitchell with Ramatam. Neither achieved the astronomic heights during the Experience days, but perhaps it was the pressure and the expectation that made anything less than a Hendrix endeavor a dismal failure.

That just wasn't the case - both musicians were major talents in their own right and in the case of Noel Redding, Fat Mattress was a band that made some great music throughout its brief tenure.

This track, I Don't Mind comes off their first album. Admittedly, the songs are good but the production isn't. I remember when the American version of this album came out via Atlantic, the sound was muddy and the vocals sounded distant and badly mixed. The original version on Polydor in the UK fared a lot better, but it still lacked a dynamic sound, which was badly needed for a band like this.

At any rate, it's all hindsight. Fat Mattress were a good band that didn't get good breaks. But then, the barre was set pretty high.

And sorry for the fundraising intrusion but . . .the archives need shoes.

(Little Richard, with Jimi Hendrix in the foreground - yes, but it was brief)

By the time Little Richard made his way over to Vee-Jay Records (after leaving Specialty, the label with all his hits), Vee-Jay was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. True, they were the first American label to issue a Beatles album, and they rang up a string of hits with other artists such as Betty Everett, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed and a ton of others. Bad management, shaky financial footing and some errors in judgment finally forced the label into receivership in late 1965, pretty much putting an end to Vee-Jay as a force in the music business and leaving a number of artists without a label.

But before it came to a crashing halt, Little Richard managed to do two sessions in 1964. One session was a greatest hits rehash of his earlier Specialty material. But the second session featured new material including this track I Don't Know What You've Got, featuring a then-unknown Jimi Hendrix on guitar, during a brief tenure with the band.

Sadly, this track hardly made a dent in the charts when it was issued in 1965. Richard would head off to another label shortly after and Hendrix would head off to England and start another chapter in rock n' roll history.

It does make you wonder what would have happened if history had turned out different.