John McLaughlin had a chance to jam with Jimi Hendrix. It could have resulted in glorious meeting of two supremely talented guitarists. Instead, he says, it was a “disaster.”
And it was all because of money.
McLaughlin and Hendrix met in New York City in March 1969, a transitional period for Jimi. By then he had released three albums with his first group, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, which featured drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding. By the time he and McLaughlin met, the Experience was in the slow and painful process of breaking up. That would ultimately lead Hendrix to the creation of his next group, Band of Gypsys, with bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles.
McLaughlin, meanwhile, had recorded his debut solo album, Extrapolation, two months earlier. Before that, he'd played with Ginger Baker in the Graham Bond Quartet — a band which Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson credits as a precursor to progressive rock — given guitar lessons to Jimmy Page, and played alongside Experience drummer Mitchell in Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. His stock wasn't quite as high as Hendrix's, but he arrived in New York that spring with a fierce reputation, nevertheless.
The jam happened during a party at the Record Plant studio, where Hendrix had tracked portions of Electric Ladyland the year before. McLaughlin, who was in the city performing with Tony Williams at the Village Vanguard, had been invited by Mitchell, who had attended their show.
“It was a bit of a disaster,” McLaughlin tells Ultimate Guitar of the scene at the Record Plant. “I walked into the studio with Mitch Mitchell, and it was loud. There was a big party going on, and that's where I met Buddy Miles for the first time. We hooked up and became friends."
McLaughlin says "quite a few guitar players" besides Hendrix were present.
“The problem is, the only guitar I had was a Gibson Hummingbird,” he says of Gibson's first square-shoulder dreadnought acoustic guitar. It was an instrument more typically found in the hands of folk players than one brandished for late-night jam sessions with Jimi Hendrix.
“I'd run out of money when I was in the U.K. and Europe,” McLaughlin explains of his atypical instrument of choice. “I'd moved to Europe by that time, and I had to sell my really nice Gibson guitar because I didn't have any money." The Hummingbird, he notes, "was pretty cheap," and he had outfitted it with a DeArmond sound hole pickup.
"At that volume, I plugged my guitar in, and it was instant feedback. It was really hard to play. It was unfortunate, because I needed a solidbody guitar on that session.”
Fortuitously, a portion of the jam was captured on tape and is available on YouTube. Dave Holland features on bass, with Buddy Miles behind the kit. Above all, Hendrix's instantly recognizable phrasing cuts through the mix. It might not have gone down as McLaughlin's finest showing of his talents — at least in his eyes — but he nevertheless cherishes the memory.
“I met Jimi,” he says with a smile. “He was a sweet guy. And I met him again, subsequently, where we had a chance to talk. And he was just totally unpretentious.
“I think he knew he was causing quite a revolution on the electric guitar. He certainly affected me, and about another five million guitar players. He was a one-man revolution on the guitar. It was unbelievable what he was doing, with a wah-wah pedal and a Marshall amp. That was it.”
In a previous interview, McLaughlin claimed that the jam took place between 2 am and 8 am, making it one for the night owls and party animals, in true rock and roll fashion.
Speaking of Hendrix's inspiration, Pete Townshend has stated that the virtuoso led him to write the Who's breakthrough album, Tommy, in 1969, and a rare clip that resurfaced in January of a young Jimi Hendrix proves he was destined for greatness.
McLaughlin released his latest live release, Live at Montreux Jazz Festival 2022, last month.
