Jimi Hendrix the Vocalist?

batmon

I was never blown way by his singing.

But back in the days when i was first getting familiar w/ his music my NYC hippie buddy said, "no he CAN sing, and he sings beautifully....". He wanted me to reassess Jimi's voice.

I still recall our discussion, and have embraced Jimi's vocals.

There are times when im like oh shit dude is really going in on that song, and then it seems like he's just talkin.

Was what he was doin w/ his range perfect for what it was or could he have been more "accomplished" in the singing area?

When i listen to him next to Buddy Miles( when theyre together) its a real jump in ear pleasure.

sabadabada

I read somewhere that Jimi was always self conscious about his voice and didn't like to sing, but after hearing Dylan while living in NYC Jimi figured, "if he can sing, then I can."

sabadabada

the man lets his guitar do the singing.

http://www.divshare.com/download/12603540-6b0

Burns

He was very shy of his voice, and would stand with his back to the soundboard engineer when recording his vocals. He
had to be convinced that his voice was quite actually "good".

There is a great piece about Jimi's voice in the Lifelines Box set. Contains the great L.A. Forum show, an essential live
Jimi show, even if your not a fan. Have you met someone who isn't a Hendrix fan?

LaserWolf

Jimi was smart to approach his singing as a rock/blues singer.
head and clavicle above contemporaries like Dylan, Eric Clapton and John Hammond.
As good or better than contemporaries like John Lennon, Johnny Winter or Richie Havens.
His voice tends to be open and honest, which works well as a blues singer.
He also uses his spoken and whispered voice very well to convey mood and meaning.

But, yeah, compared to the best soul and blues singers, he doesn't stack up.
And there are definitely better rock singers.

As Saba said, there are lots of terrible rock singers thanks to Dylan.

barjesus

Always thought the dude from Sweden's Mecki Mark Men was trying to sound like Hendrix singing-wise.

pickwick33

barjesus said:

Always thought the dude from Sweden's Mecki Mark Men was trying to sound like Hendrix singing-wise.

You could say the same for Bootsy Collins. His sing-speak voice was definitely made possible with a grant from Jimi Hendrix.

batmon

pickwick33 said:

barjesus said:

Always thought the dude from Sweden's Mecki Mark Men was trying to sound like Hendrix singing-wise.

You could say the same for Bootsy Collins. His sing-speak voice was definitely made possible with a grant from Jimi Hendrix.

Now that is funny.

I cant recall any Boosty joints where he tried to get Ronald Isley on, but Jimi on Have you ever been to electric ladyland......

Oof

bull_ox

Definitely feeling Jimi's vocals on his own records

Some of the best recordings of all time & I couldn't imagine them being any different

Almond

Hendrix was first and foremost an electric guitarist, and any other instrument alongside him was always dominated by his strings. In a sense, it's fitting that he didn't have more of a sing-song voice as his guitar would have overwhelmed it anyway. I'm just impressed that he was able to shred it on the guitar like that and still manage to articulate a verse.

I've personally always found Hendrix' voice to be borderline sexy, especially when it's lower. Granted, he was no Barry White, but he got the point across just fine. I feel like male vocals in rock music have been more about the power behind them, whereas female vocalists are more likely to be chided for lacking in range, etc. His voice might have been rough around the edges, but I think it fit his image.

Mjukis

What I always dug about his voice is that he just sounds so cool. On songs like "Long, hot summer night" his voice just suits the mood perfectly. I've never really been a fan of the Robert Plant-shrieking style of rock vocals, I prefer something a bit more mellow. Unless we're talking Ozzy of course... Ozzy's Ozzy.

DocMcCoy

This is something that isn't discussed enough, as far as I'm concerned. I always liked the warm, unshowy soulfulness to Jimi's voice, even when he was doing more of a rock 'n' roller/blues shouter thing on songs like Voodoo Chile. His importance as a guitarist has seriously overshadowed the fact that he was a great singer and songwriter as well.

Junior

I can't imagine anyone else performing the vocals on his tracks as well as he does, seems like the perfect fit. Which I guess does raise the question of which artists would have a been a good/better fit than him?

Flomotion

Junior said:

I can't imagine anyone else performing the vocals on his tracks as well as he does, seems like the perfect fit. Which I guess does raise the question of which artists would have a been a good/better fit than him?

Hendrix was a great blues vocalist but there are some covers, like Wilson Pickett's take on Hey Joe, where the vocals get the treatment they deserve. I know Jimi's version is a cover too but it's become the definitive one for most people.

Mr_Lee_PHD

I think his singing voice was great, even though he didn't consider his voice to be a singers voice.

Hey Joe, Red House and Freedom were great. Subtle, but great.

Junior

Flomotion said:

Junior said:

I can't imagine anyone else performing the vocals on his tracks as well as he does, seems like the perfect fit. Which I guess does raise the question of which artists would have a been a good/better fit than him?

Hendrix was a great blues vocalist but there are some covers, like Wilson Pickett's take on Hey Joe, where the vocals get the treatment they deserve. I know Jimi's version is a cover too but it's become the definitive one for most people.

Oh yeah undoubtedly, Pickett's version of Hey Joe is superb but the production of the track is reasonably different to Jimi's. Was just thinking more of Hendrix's takes on the songs with a different vocal track as they seem to be set up for his blues style vocal so, for example, how would it work with some of his contemporaries who had a different kind of vocal style on there. I just can't see it working better than Hendrix's own take on it.

Flomotion

Ah, I see. Agreed 100%- Jimi's arrangements sung by someone else with the same backing just couldn't work. I bet it's the kind of shit project that Sting or Paul Carrack would attempt.

SPlDEY

It depends. What do you want from a vocalist?

Personally, I like unique voices. I like lyrics that have something to say without a lot of words. I don't care too much about technically perfect voices really. In fact I often enjoy the honesty of a bad voice. Like James Brown, Kurt Cobain, Fela or Monty Stark, or Tom Waits, or Jimi, or Curtis .. etc etc.

You can't even compare there vocals to technically perfect vocalists like Pavorotti or Mariah Carey or Stevie or Donnie Hathaway. Though doesn't mean you still can't enjoy them.

Vocals are the most subjective element to most listeners. It's good to see artists bring something new to the conversation rather than copying from what they think everybody else thinks is good, or will sell well.

I say yay to Jimi's voice.. the way he spoke was even a lot of fun.

- spidey

LaserWolf

SPlDEY said:

It depends. What do you want from a vocalist?

Personally, I like unique voices. I like lyrics that have something to say without a lot of words. I don't care too much about technically perfect voices really. In fact I often enjoy the honesty of a bad voice. Like James Brown, Kurt Cobain, Fela or Monty Stark, or Tom Waits, or Jimi, or Curtis .. etc etc.

You can't even compare there vocals to technically perfect vocalists like Pavorotti or Mariah Carey or Stevie or Donnie Hathaway. Though doesn't mean you still can't enjoy them.

Vocals are the most subjective element to most listeners. It's good to see artists bring something new to the conversation rather than copying from what they think everybody else thinks is good, or will sell well.

I say yay to Jimi's voice.. the way he spoke was even a lot of fun.

- spidey

willie_fugal

he kills it on Catfish Blues too:

"Well I wish I was a catfish / swimming iiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnn the deep blue sea."

finelikewine

SPlDEY said:

It depends. What do you want from a vocalist?

Personally, I like unique voices. I like lyrics that have something to say without a lot of words. I don't care too much about technically perfect voices really. In fact I often enjoy the honesty of a bad voice. Like James Brown, Kurt Cobain, Fela or Monty Stark, or Tom Waits, or Jimi, or Curtis .. etc etc.

You can't even compare there vocals to technically perfect vocalists like Pavorotti or Mariah Carey or Stevie or Donnie Hathaway. Though doesn't mean you still can't enjoy them.

Vocals are the most subjective element to most listeners. It's good to see artists bring something new to the conversation rather than copying from what they think everybody else thinks is good, or will sell well.

I say yay to Jimi's voice.. the way he spoke was even a lot of fun.

- spidey

James Brown a bad voice? You`re trippin.... Just listen to sunny or it`s a mans world. He could sing his ass off.

batmon

Anybody checkin the Live at the Filmore/band of gypsies deluxe dvd joint?

Burns

batmon said:

Anybody checkin the Live at the Filmore/band of gypsies deluxe dvd joint?

First I've heard of it, I still check the Isle of Wight on VHS though, major shreddage.

sabadabada

The full recording of the Isle of Wight festival is f&*&ing; AMAZING!

Cadence

Well, he sings better than Tom Waits...

Gotta agree with the comments about the vocals fitting the songs. No question that he had limitations, but he understood that fact and played to his strengths by complementing the guitar wizardry with vocals that made the songs work. Finding that balance is what great artists do.

And I'd much rather hear Hendrix's honest warbling than hear the thousands of artists who try to force notes they CLEARLY can't hit.