JIMI HENDRIX: Live Album, Tribute CD On The Way

An album of unreleased live JIMI HENDRIX music is set to hit stores this fall — nearly 33 years after his death in London. "It's a live concert — I can't tell you yet which concert it is," Janie Hendrix — Jimi's sister and president and CEO of Experience Hendrix LLC, the Hendrix family company — said in a recent interview. "There are some legal issues we're dealing with."

Janie Hendrix did say the album will include a performance from "part of his career with the EXPERIENCE," presumably the years between 1967 and 1969, during the apogee of his career with charter sidemen Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums.

The release will be out in this fall — "We're aiming actually for October or November," she said — and issued on the Experience Hendrix label, distributed by MCA/Universal. The pending release takes on a new historical resonance since Redding died last month at his home in Ireland.

In other news, a star-studded tribute record, "Power of Soul", is tentatively set to be released before Christmas, featuring such artists as Carlos Santana performing "Spanish Castle Magic", funksters George Clinton and Bootsy Collins teaming up on the title track, EARTH, WIND & FIRE playing "Voodoo Chile", and Jeff Beck joining forces with Seal on a version of "The Wind Cries Mary".

Janie Hendrix said the tribute album was largely inspired by a desire to recast the public understanding of Jimi Hendrix's musical influences — to move beyond the perception of Hendrix solely as a rock musician. "There's many tribute albums out, but we really wanted to give this an R&B flavor. He was blues- and jazz-inspired, and that's what this album captured," she said. "Every artist on it has been inspired by Jimi."

Sales of the album are to benefit the United Negro College Fund.