It was the Spring of 1967. I was having lunch with Buddy Guy and his band at Stanford. Buddy was on his first West Coast tour, picking up gigs on an ad hoc basis. At that time, Buddy was almost unknown outside the blues scene, but he was determined to change that. He had left Chess and had just recorded his first album as a leader, for Vanguard.
As we were eating, someone– I never knew who– put a rock record on the turntable. No one paid any attention until a slow blues started, all loping bass and stinging guitar. The rest of the band kept on eating, but Buddy sat completely still, his food untouched, listening. After some moments he looked at me and said “Who is that, John? Who is that?” I told him that it was a new band out of England, but that the leader and guitar player was an American named Jimi Hendrix. Buddy nodded, kept listening, and didn’t pick up his fork
until the song, Red House, was over.
Buddy would hear a lot of Henrix’s music during his trip out West, but that’s the encounter I will always remember.
***************************************************************
East Portland Blog adds:
For novelty’s sake, above is a quite nice black and white live version of Red House in Stockholm, from, I think, Swedish TV. As much as I make fun of the Swedes, in the sixties, the socialized television network made excellent video records of American artists which often don’t have a cognate from US TV. And not just big names.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TZeCntatHQ
**********************************************************************
Buddy Guy Record Company Official Site: http://www.buddyguy.net/
Buddy Guy’s Legends Official Site: http://www.buddyguy.com/
…
