Deep Purple’s Ritchie Blackmore revealed what The Yardbirds icon Jeff Beck said to him about the late guitarist Jimi Hendrix in his recent interview with SiriusXM’s Guitar Greats. Blackmore stated that Hendrix could draw Beck’s attention when he came to the UK during the ’60s.
After watching Hendrix’s extraordinary performance as a very young guitar player, Chas Chandler, who was a manager and producer, discovered and wanted to work with such a talented guy like him. Then, in 1966, he brought Hendrix to the UK and began recruiting musicians for a backing band. The Jimi Hendrix Experience got critical acclaim quickly, and its most famous member became more and more known worldwide.
Along with rock music lovers and critics, Hendrix’s unique way of playing guitar and well-crafted riffs made many guitarists from England surprised and worried. According to Blackmore, Beck was one of them by sharing the story of how he learned about this situation in his interview that he gave last month. Shortly after Hendrix arrived in England, the musician stated that Beck came to him and said they needed to do something about this new guy.
Blackmore stated that Beck described the late guitarist as a person who’s killing and upsetting everyone with the help of his talent. The Deep Purple icon responded to him, saying that Beck was the only person who could stop him. Although he highlighted Beck’s being one of the best guitar players in rock music, Hendrix’s playing style and look were very different and unmatchable, and he was glad that he reached many people during his short life.
Blackmore said in his interview that:
“When Hendrix came to England, Jeff Beck came up to me and said, ‘Ritchie, we’ve got to do something about this guy,’ and I said, ‘Who are you talking about?’ He said, ‘Jimi Hendrix, he’s killing everybody over here. He’s upsetting everybody!’ I’m like, ‘Well, Jeff, if you can’t do it, nobody else will do it’ because I always thought of Jeff as the best rock player.
I followed him because I thought the way he used riffs in a riff had magical moments. He was a brilliant guitar player, and he also looked like he was from the moon. Really in a way, he didn’t have to play the guitar because he looked so strange and different from the typical English musician, and it worked, and I’m so glad it did. Unfortunately, it only worked for three years, but he certainly set the world alight.”
Consequently, even though Beck was right about Hendrix’s influence on his contemporaries and next-generation guitar players worldwide, Hendrix himself couldn’t live long enough to witness it. At 27, the guitarist passed away due to asphyxia on September 18, 1970.
