Who comes to your mind when I ask you about who’s the greatest guitarist of all time? Jimi Hendrix has to be one of the people that popped up in your mind because he has influenced the world of music in that way!
Hendrix was a gem in the music industry who proved that the six-stringed instrument had more potential than anybody could imagine. If Jimi says that he likes your band and you’re on his favorite music list then that could be considered an expensive treasure.
King Crimson guitarist, Robert Fripp was asked if Jimi Hendrix had actually shaken his hand during a Q&A event. He replied “Yes he did,” replied Fripp trying his best to downplay it before spinning his story of the time that the paths of the two great guitar wizards crossed”,
“The single time I met Jimi Hendrix was at The Revolution Club in Mayfair (London) when [King] Crimson were playing in 1969, and it was the first time I sat down,” Fripp revealed. “I have always been a seated guitarist,”
He continued, “But to be in a Rock group you couldn’t sit down.” This decision to defy rock and roll styling standards was met acrimoniously by the band’s frontman Greg Lake, who apparently yelled, “You can’t sit down, you look like a mushroom!” To which Fripp replied: “[It is my considered opinion] that the mushroom is considered a fertility symbol in many cultures.”
Back in 1969, King Crimson was only months away from their new beginning. Their new talent went on ahead and became an inspiration for the music industry. Fripp earned the eponymous seated musician on the 2nd of June.
During that crowded night, the legendary guitarist approached Fripp (Fripp describes him as the most “luminous man” he had ever met) and he said to him: “Hey, shake my left-hand man, it’s closer to my heart.”
That had to be one of the most unbelievable moments for Fripp. When someone receives gratitude from Jim Hendrix, that’s the best wish they could’ve ever asked for. Hendrix is a talented guitarist and his playing style has influenced the whole world because of how original his playing style is. The iconic story of Fripp and Hendrix takes place again!
Many years later Fripp encountered King Crimson’s drummer, Michael Giles’s sister-in-law. She was also an audience while Hendrix and Fripp shook hands. And by luck, she sat right next to Jimi’s table.
She revealed to Fripp about that night and it might’ve made him so much happy that he started jumping. She revealed that “Do you know that I was sitting at the next table to Jimi Hendrix. … He was jumping up and down and saying, “This is the best group in the world.”’
Fripp then continues “In all due modesty, that is one of the best calling cards any working musician is ever likely to be able to present.”
It might be seen like Hendrix and Fripp are different performances, their singularity binds them. Even the calling card of Fripp, Brian Eno stated: “Fripp’s contributions to the David Bowie albums are of a singular nature. He is a unique musician who doesn’t do ‘sessions’ in the normal sense: when people work with him it is not only for his prodigious gifts as a player,”
He added more, “but even more for his unusually fruitful and original imagination. He has the ability to send a piece of music into a quite different direction, and indeed did so several times on these albums.”
The style that Fripp played his guitar was amusing, he threw colorful melodies and journeys that many weren’t aware of. The main reason why could create such mystical sound was that he was borrowing from Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky, and others to create a pog-rock sound.
Fripp recently also gave their opinion on guitars amps and pedals and stated that he doesn’t have a single interest in gear.
“Whatever guitar, whatever amp I’m using I’ll get my sound,” he continued, “Here’s an example of this. I went to see Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea at Carnegie Hall: wow, breathtaking. Herbie Hancock on the left. They changed places and played, and their sounds went with them. I still don’t understand that. How can that be? It cannot be the sound of the piano changes. The sound of the piano is the sound of a piano, surely?”
Hendrix and Fripp are the least peoples who send the whole message to the world with their great music. Everything about this story is truly inspirational.
