Say what you will about The Jimi Hendrix Experience, whether they could have been steadier, could have improved musically, could have lasted for longer than 3 years and all that, yet a massive difference in pop-culture and pop-music they did make. From 1966-1969 the pop charts were invaded by 3 young dudes with afros who played their instruments like lead instruments. Jimi had the mad playing skillz and perfected the guitar burning act whilst Noel Redding was the silent bass guitarist who left the group in ’69. Yet Essex born Mitch Mitchell laid the bare beats for the trio and played a huge role in creating the ‘Jimi Hendrix Experience’ sound (that The Band of Gypsies sound nothing like The Experience is partly down to his absence).
Mitchell’s jazz background as a session musician brought him to play with The Coronets, Johnny Harris and the Shades, The Pretty Things, Georgie Fame and The Riot Squad to name but a few before joining the Experience after meeting his guitar smashing partner in ‘66. The 3 years that followed saw Mitch lauded with the tiresome ‘one of the best drummers in the world’ tag but that claim wasn't without merit as The Experience were regular inhabitants of the top 40 charts as well as being on the receiving end of glowing reviews from the critics as Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland sold like hot nasi goreng.
Mitchell’s departure after his stint with Jimi’s Woodstock 69 live band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows saw him part of the underrated 70s rock group Ramatam as well as a sought after session drummer up till his untimely death in Portland on Wednesday 12 November 2008 just 5 days after completing the 2008 Experience Hendrix tour across the US.
Mitchell’s jazz background as a session musician brought him to play with The Coronets, Johnny Harris and the Shades, The Pretty Things, Georgie Fame and The Riot Squad to name but a few before joining the Experience after meeting his guitar smashing partner in ‘66. The 3 years that followed saw Mitch lauded with the tiresome ‘one of the best drummers in the world’ tag but that claim wasn't without merit as The Experience were regular inhabitants of the top 40 charts as well as being on the receiving end of glowing reviews from the critics as Are You Experienced, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland sold like hot nasi goreng.
Mitchell’s departure after his stint with Jimi’s Woodstock 69 live band Gypsy Sun and Rainbows saw him part of the underrated 70s rock group Ramatam as well as a sought after session drummer up till his untimely death in Portland on Wednesday 12 November 2008 just 5 days after completing the 2008 Experience Hendrix tour across the US.
After Noel Redding’s death in 2003 and Jimi Hendrix’s in 1970, the departure of Mitchell leaves us with no surviving members of the seminal Jimi Hendrix Experience. A sad day indeed.
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