Michael Latt AMS 59 TA: Karl Zoller ID #: 994924467 4/15/10

Assignment #1: Record Review

Parallel to Jimi Hendrixs brief musical career, are the significant transformations that the United States underwent in the 1960s that were instigated, sparked, and intensified by Americas engagement in a military campaign abroad, Americas cultural disputes and Americas racial hostility. Tensions in his style of music and in his persona represent the racial hostility between white music and black music cultural practices and musical traditions. The Jimi Hendrix Experiences album, Axis: Bold As Love, showcases Jimi Hendrixs mastery of the electric guitar, establishes his immense knowledge of various electronic breakthroughs and sounds of rock n roll with the lyrics, rhythms, and emotions of African American blues and jazz. Tension emerges on two levels. Within the African American community, individuals questioned Hendrixs commitment to improving their lives in America because of his hybrid identity that appealed to the general public. Jimi Hendrix exposes and evokes the dispute between African American cultures established definition of authenticity that looked down upon Hendrixs economic success and integration into White America. In the noteworthy song on Axis: Bold As Love, If 6 was 9 highlights tensions between such issues as, The position of the artist in the marketplace, the relations of class and community, the tensions between technology and tradition, the shaping of race and nation (Frith 46). Jimi Hendrix expresses his independence from the racial issues and tension in his marrying of Jazz and prominently White music genres like rock n roll, Got my own world to live through. And I ain't gonna copy you (Axis: Bold As Love, 1967). Instead of completely conforming to the motives of prominent figures like Malcolm to isolate Blacks from Whites to solve racial

issues, he believed that his pioneering in music could erase the racial barriers better than attempting to radically change the country through alienation and conflict.