Gary Gomes, Current Musician, Vedic Astrologer at Self-Employment
Noel was a guitar player first and actually thought he was auditioning for the New Animals. Hendrix hired him mainly because he liked his hair!
In fairness to Redding, he actually did a very good job for Hendrix considering his lack of experience (pun intended).
Redding actually quit during the making of Electric Ladyland because he didn't like all the takes Hendrix required and didn't like all the hangers on at the Electric Ladyland sessions. He was rehired after BOG disbanded but decided he didn't want to do it anymore. Jimi's old Army buddy was there and replaced Redding.
Band of Gypsies was a contractual obligation lp for Capitol records. From what I understand, Hendrix could not use the Experience because Mike Jeffries owned the name.
Hendrix reportedly had a bad time on one of the BOG gigs and the group was disbanded. Mike Jeffries also put some pressure on Jimi to re-form the Experience. Hendrix had no real quarrel with Redding or Mitchell. BOG was a contractual obligation but I am sure Hendrix wanted players he knew, as he knew Buddy Miles from touring the U.S. earlier in their careers.
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Elwood Wyatt, 55 years of r&r dreams, concerts and stage security
Mitch Mitchell was Hendrix’s drummer all through his career as a star except for the Band of Gypsies concerts.
In the Band of Gypsies, Buddy Miles provided drumming that had less cymbal work and more beat, which seemed to help Hendrix stay on track during the jams and funk. I think the solid bass playing coming from Billy Cox was a good part of that - Noel’s bass playing never had seemed to be on firm ground, but Cox definitely knew what he was doing and played with lots of confidence.
Noel Redding was Hendrix’s bass player during that time until just before the Woodstock concerts, when he was replaced by Billy Cox, an old army friend of Jimi’s. Cox had played in the studio with Hendrix, but soon was used in the Gypsy Sun and Rainbows band used at Woodstock. When Hendrix started his last year of touring in 1970, Cox was brought into the JH Experience to replace Noel Redding.
Cox was a better bassist and provided a firmer bottom end than Redding ever did.
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Grant Nichols, Generalist by nature, Specialist by necessity.
Right up, I know little about Jimi Hendrix other than his music. However . . .
The answers here have been interesting. I get the impression Jimi was a bit restless in terms of finding the right groove for him. He was this unprecedented force - a bit like a guitar vandergraaf generator - that any regular musician of the time must’ve struggled to read and support to his potential - especially live. Jimi was the uniquely shaped hand looking for the perfect glove to provide the music, flexibility, progressive and aggressive backup to go where wanted to go . . . without having to micromanage everyone! So if Jimi had more longevity and purpose, surely a lot more band members would have fallen under the Hendrix bus.
Now, here's the tantalising bit for me. It's become known that in Oct 1969, Jimi was aiming to record an LP “this weekend" with Miles Davis, Miles' brilliant drummer Tony Williams, and Paul McCartney on bass. Was this LP,, that sadly never happend, a simple project, or was Jimi still restless and hoping to try this very interesting new glove, with the intention of wearing it a lot more? Imagine if that worked out! They'd do a great version of Maxwell's Silver Hammer!
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