Jimi Hendrix | "Je L'aime" EP, signed on by Hendrix on his first tour

Jimi Hendrix

Johnny Hallyday’s “Je L’aime” EP, signed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience, [ca. 13-18 October 1966]

7’’ EP of with the original sleeve, signed by Jimi Hendrix, Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Jonny Hallyday, and others, on the rear cover; sleeve overall worn and browned, chip to rear cover affecting a non-notable signature, remnants of old tape repair, but signatures bright and clear, EP itself with some deep scratches. [With:] A signed letter of authenticity from James Spence Authentication.

The earliest Jimi Hendrix signed 45: a remarkable survival from his burgeoning career.

By mid-1966, the 23-year-old Jimi (then “Jimmy”) Hendrix was struggling to find his footing. Having given the R&B circuit a disappointing run as a session musician for a few years, he moved to New York where he got a residency at Cafe Wha? (billed as “Jimmy James and the Blue Flames”), played the club scene, and began to hone his sound.

Linda Keith—a model and at that time Keith Richards’ girlfriend—saw Hendrix one night at the Cheetah Club, at 53rd and Broadway, where he played a gig with Curtis Knight and the Squires. Keith was enamored with his guitar playing and invited him to have a drink after the show with her and her friends; the group eventually ended up back at her apartment, taking LSD and “tuning in” to Bob Dylan. The two quickly became friends and soon Keith began to use her connections to introduce him to record producers. Though the Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham was unimpressed, she persisted in trying to get Hendrix discovered. Serendipity came when The Animals arrived in New York for their American tour, and she managed to convince Chas Chandler—their bassist, who was about to quit the band to become a record producer and manager—to come see him perform. After seeing Hendrix’s renditions of Billy Roberts’ “Hey Joe” and Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” at Cafe Wha?, Chandler immediately knew he had to sign him and bring him to London after The Animals finished their tour.

Once they’d arrived, Chandler began the hunt for band members who could highlight the guitarist. They quickly assembled the personnel who would form the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with Noel Redding on bass and Mitch Mitchell on drums. The day after they finalized their contracts, the Jimi Hendrix Experience flew to France to be the supporting act for a tour with Johnny Hallyday, who had by chance seen Hendrix sit in on a gig in London just three weeks earlier and invited him to join. On 18 October, the band played a 15-minute set for a sold-out show at the Olympia theatre Paris—which became the earliest recording of the band.

The present EP, signed while the bands were on tour in France, thus dates from the very inception of the Jimi Hendrix Experience. It was at this moment that the guitarist became the figure who would reach titanic stature, his reverb shaking the world. This 7’’ is a relic of the first moments that Hendrix both stepped into his identity as a front man and stepped on to the global stage, where he would transform rock n’ roll forever. Within a year Hendrix would be an international sensation, winning the admiration of Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, among legions of fans, and by 1969 he would be the highest-paid rock musician in the world.