Londres ( Polytechnic Of Central London) : 1er octobre 1966

Londres ( Polytechnic Of Central london) : 1er octobre 1966

Jam avec CREAM
2 témoignages:
-Chas Chandler : "He's better than Eric Clapton... He played with the Cream at a London college date and played Clapton off the stage. Ginger Baker didn't want him to go on, because he said he had to have eric there to work with him. Clapton admitted that Jimi was a fantastic guitarist."
-Clapton : "The first time I met him, he came to a concert in London that the Cream was playing. He was very, very flash-even in the dressing room- he stood in front of the mirror combing his hair...and asked if he could play a couple of numbers. I said "of course", but I had a funny feeling about him. He came on then, and did "Killing Floor", a Howlin'Wolf number that i've always wanted to play, but which I've never really had the complete technique to do. Ginger (Baker) didn't like it, and Jack ( Bruce) didn't like it- they had never heard the song before. It was just, well, he just stole the show! From then on I just started going to watch him..."
Source : C.Glebeek

Le livre de Charles R. Cross revient sur l'épisode (en v.o.) :

Citation :

Then on Saturday, October 1, a week after Jimi landed at Heathrow, Eric Clapton and his fellow members of Cream were playing a show at the Central London Polytechnic. Chandler asked Clapton if Jimi might jam with them. The request was so preposterous that no one in Cream knew quite what to say. No one had ever asked to jam with them before; most would have been too intimidated by their reputation as the best band in Britain. Jack Bruce finally said: “Sure, he can plug into my bass amp.”

Jimi began “Killin’ Floor” — a blues classic often played by one of Clapton’s heroes, Albert King.

“I’d grown up around Eric, and I knew what a fan he was of Albert King, who had a slow version of that song,” recalled Tony Garland, Michael Jeffrey’s publicist. “When Jimi started his take, though, it was about three times as fast as Albert King’s version and you could see Eric’s jaw drop — he didn’t know what was going to come next.”

Graffiti all over London at the time proclaimed: “Clapton is God.” Jimi had been in London for a week and he had already met God and burned him.

https://jimihendrix.forumactif.org/t684-jimi-hendrix-l-experience-des-limites-charles-r-cross-2005

Eric Clapton à propos de l'évènement :

"(...) the first time I met Jimi, he came to see Cream play at an early Cream gig when we were playing universities and stuff like that, May Balls - Cambridge May Balls.It was at the London Polytechnic, we were playing there. I think Harvey Goldsmith was the entertainment secretary for the university. We got up on stage, and then [original Animals bassist and Hendrix's manager] Chas Chandler came up to us and said, 'I've got this friend who would love to jam...'

And it was funny, those days, anybody could get up with anybody if you were convincing enough that you could play. And he got up and blew everyone's mind. I just thought, 'Someone that plays the stuff I love, in the flesh, on stage with me!' I was actually privileged to be, like, something that no one's ever going to be. That incident, that night, it's historic in my mind, but only a few people are alive that would remember it."

Source : https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/eric_clapton_speaks_on_hendrix_incident__what_jimi_was_like_recalls_how_ginger_baker_behaved_during_cream_reunion.html

"Cream's set list is unknown. Jimi Hendrix joins them for Killing Floor and another blues."

Source:
https://www.whereseric.com/eric-clapton-tour/01/10/1966

Je suis parfois étonné de ce rapprochement avec Clapton. Bien que ce soit un excellentissime guitariste, ce dernier aurait-il autant marqué l'histoire de la musique s'il avait joué sur une aussi courte période que Jimi Hendrix ? Bien qu'appartenant à un club assez fermé, il y a eu (et il reste encore probablement) quelques « grands » guitaristes dans l'histoire du rock (par exemple les sept premiers de ce classement), mais tout de même... Avec le recul, les réécoutes et la marque du temps, Jimi Hendrix semble être tellement au-dessus des autres à peu près en tous points que l'on voit mal comment il pourrait être rejoint.