Jean-Paul Bourelly

Jean-Paul Bourelly :


Hendrixian guitarist who acknowledged the influence on his 1995 DIW recording Tribute to Jimi.

I was nine years old when I first encountered Jimi’s music. My older cousin played me Band of Gypsys and, man, that shit blew me away! After hearing Band of Gypsys I went back and checked out all the other albums. But for me, Band of Gypsys was the ultimate in terms of what he was doing. I thought the rhythm section was perfect for him. Billy Cox and Buddy Miles—those were two cats who could hit. I mean, it was so solid that when Hendrix went into his psychedelic stuff it was like a perfect contrast. You could see how far he was traveling because the ground was so clear!

Looking back, I don’t think of Hendrix as a jazz player. If you’re talking about a straightahead style, Jimi wasn’t coming from that place at all. He was basically in love with the blues and R&B and he had all that Indian heavy shit going through his blood too. He had a lot of stuff you can’t really categorize, man. It’s power—just the ability to express things in a very finely detailed manner. Like his vibrato was very detailed, man. Like an opera singer—very heavy. And the way that a cat goes from note to note, there was a kind of phrasing that he had that singers have. It was very deep, and very seasoned. It had weight.

Hendrix absolutely influenced Miles. I think he influenced every player in jazz who did not block out funk and rock as possibilities to gain knowledge from. He’s the reference for that, just like Coltrane was the reference for improvisational jazz. Any jazz player who found funk and rock and even blues as a reference point to gain something from had to ultimately deal with Jimi. He’s what Archie Shepp calls a transformational player, like Trane, Elvin, Kenny Clarke, Tony Williams Lifetime with Larry Young. All of these guys, through the force of their own playing, basically said, “Yo! This is where the shit is going!” And I hope that jazz can get back to that spirit of respecting and supporting those kind of players.

Source : http://jazztimes.com/articles/20150-jimi-hendrix-modern-jazz-axis