This isn't to say there's little about the creation of his music. Clearly, Hendrix was a consummate musician who claimed a serious monogamous relationship would be impossible considering his lifestyle. He was a music critic, saying Blood, Sweat and Tears were over-blown, The Monkees embarrassing, and Alvin Lee and Ten Years After awe-inspiring at Woodstock.
As time progressed, it's plain he preferred the line-up of himself, Billy Cox on bass, and Mitch Mitchell on drums and likely would have continued with this group in one form or another had he lived.
It's also instructive to see how his personal philosophy evolved over those few short years. Readers will have to come to their own conclusions as to whether Hendrix was being visionary, mystical, stoned, or playful when he talked about the "Electric Church" and his other cosmic and spiritual themes.
There's no question he believed art and music were the means to change the world, and not the violence some groups of the time advocated. As journalist Keith Altham Noted in one of the final interviews, the Hendrix he spoke to was far different from the public persona fans saw onstage, and this contrast is evident throughout the book.
In the main, Hendrix defies easy labeling or categorizing as his creative imagination was best expressed in his music and not any verbal discussions where he tried to explain the often unexplainable.
Hendrix on Hendrix: Interviews and Encounters with Jimi Hendrix is indeed a valuable reference work not only for historians looking for insights into Hendrix and his times, but for those who like to explore the artistic personality. This isn't a straight-forward account of "we did this here, we did that there, and then we . . ." Neither it is an apologia for a life, as many autobiographies tend to become. Instead, the full text becomes a document of how one individualistic genius — and Jimi Hendrix absolutely deserves that label — reacted and responded to the very energetic and surprising milieu he was part of and helped shape.
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