cover image Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy: Jimi Hendrix

Jimi Hendrix, Electric Gypsy: Jimi Hendrix

Harry Shapiro. St. Martin's Press, $29.95 (723pp) ISBN 978-0-312-05861-6

Sympathetic and comprehensive, this biography of left-handed guitar wizard Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) features an exhaustive Hendrix discography, a list of his equipment and a file of film and photo appearances. Shapiro ( Waiting for the Man: Drugs and Popular Music ) and Glebbeek, founder of the Hendrix Information Centre in Ireland, regale the reader with quotes, anecdotes, song analyses and mini-bios of Hendrix colleagues, including the Jimi Hendrix Experience's drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. The musician is portrayed as a perfectionist, brilliant composer whose imaginative sound effects were limited only by equipment; a black artist under pressure from radical black groups because his audience was predominantly white; a dedicated guitarist overwhelmed by his lifestyle. Hendrix's drug abuse and death from a probable barbiturate overdose are not sensationalized as the authors concentrate on his formidable music legacy, flamboyant individualism and sense of humor. Photos. (July)