Jimi Hendrix - High Times At San Jose (2024)

By February 1969, Experience bassist Noel Redding had grown weary of Jimi Hendrix's unpredictable work ethic and his creative control over the Experience's music. During the previous month's European tour, interpersonal relations within the group had deteriorated, particularly between Hendrix and Redding. The last Experience sessions that included Redding - a re-recording of "Stone Free" for use as a possible single release - took place on April 14 at Olmstead and the Record Plant in New York. Hendrix then flew bassist Billy Cox to New York; they started recording and rehearsing together on April 21. The last performance of the original Experience lineup took place on June 29, 1969, at Barry Fey's Denver Pop Festival, a three-day event held at Denver's Mile High Stadium that was marked by police using tear gas to control the audience. Before the show, a journalist angered Redding by asking why he was there; the reporter then informed him that two weeks earlier Hendrix announced that he had been replaced with Billy Cox.

The next day, Redding quit the Experience and returned to London. He announced that he had left the band and intended to pursue a solo career, blaming Hendrix's plans to expand the group without allowing for his input as a primary reason for leaving. A month or so before Redding’s last show with the Experience, the trio headlined the Northern California Folk-Rock Festival at the County Fairground in Santa Clara, California. The group played a spirited set that day with no evidence of the bad feeling within the group, and the show has always been a favourite among fans for this pre-Woodstock period, when the Experience were essentially on their last legs. Previously unreleased, the JHE set was recorded for live radio broadcast that day but has remained unavailable ever since. However, this new release addresses this oversight as the full set played by Jimi, Noel and Mitch that afternoon is now presented in its entirety on this new CD.

Tracklist
1 Intro/Hear My Train a Comin'
2 Fire/Drum Solo
3 Spanish Castle Magic
4 Red House
5 I Don't Live Today
6 Foxy Lady
7 Purple Haze
8 Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
9 Room Full of Mirrors
10 Sunshine of Your Love