Jimi Hendrix

James Marshall Hendrix was one of the most revolutionary electric guitarists in rock history, an artist whose innovations in tone, feedback, distortion, and wah-wah technique permanently expanded the vocabulary of the electric guitar. His roots in the blues were deep and explicit: he served apprenticeships on the chitlin' circuit backing Little Richard, the Isley Brothers, and King Curtis before relocating to London and forming the Jimi Hendrix Experience. His recordings of 'Red House,' 'Voodoo Child (Slight Return),' 'Hey Joe,' and his reimagining of 'Catfish Blues' (as 'Voodoo Chile') demonstrated a profound connection to the Delta and Chicago traditions that he refracted through psychedelic amplification. He died of asphyxiation in London in 1970 at age 27.