Projects and Partners

Hendrix Unplugged

One of the most pioneering and influential artists in the progression of American music was James Marshall Hendrix. Born in Seattle on November 27, 1942, Jimi Hendrix's prowess on the guitar influenced countless musicians. Heavily influenced by the blues and many of his contemporaries, Hendrix didn't just simply create a new way of performing the blues, but expanded the way in which the guitar took centerpiece in all contemporary American music. The electric guitar playing of Jimi Hendrix (a veteran of many American rhythm & blues and soul groups from the early-mid 1960s) and his power trios, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys, has had broad and lasting influence on the development of blues rock, especially for guitarists. An acoustic, unplugged presentation of the music that Jimi Hendrix created is an exciting and unique way of conveying his relevance to today's audiences.

Spencer Proffer is executive producing a unique tribute album which will be marketed and distributed by Sony/Legacy Records on Proffer's Pasha Records (formerly a successful label partner with Sony predecessor, CBS Records, in the '80s), worldwide, to be released in the last quarter of 2012.

Sony/Legacy, who distributes the Jimi Hendrix catalog, is working in close harmony with Meteor 17, original Hendrix engineer and mixer, Eddie Kramer (who is serving as a Co-Executive Producer), Lee Trink, former President of Capitol/EMI Records No America, who will oversee the marketing and distribution aspects of the project for Meteor 17 (also serving as a Co-Executive Producer) and Phillipa Sledge, Memphis based partner to M17 (Co-Executive Producer). This acoustic/unplugged re-imagination of classic Hendrix titles for audiences of today with top worldwide artists (who have a love and affinity of Hendrix music), will demonstrate, musically and commercially, how relevant and timeless Jimi's music truly is.

The enterprise is being produced in harmony with Janie Hendrix and Experience Hendrix. 2012 is the 70th anniversary of Jimi's birth and Sony, along with M17, will mount a major worldwide marketing and promotion effort around the release, while Sony cross promotes and markets the vibrant and fertile Hendrix catalog.

This Hendrix acoustic tribute will be mixed by Eddie Kramer (www.eddie-kramer.com) (who has worked with Hendrix, Zeppelin, The Stones, The Beatles) to give the album a true sonic integrity, validation and consistency. .

A great example of a Hendrix favorite that is being re-imagined is where a very well known top selling legacy group is performing a re-imagination of Jimi's "Angel", in duet with a major current artiste. Check out the original unplugged version Jimi performed in a NY hotel room from 1968.

Angel - Anthology Version

Today, Jimi Hendrix's status as a cultural icon stands undiminished. His popularity and continuing influence on popular culture-more than three decades after his untimely death in 1970 is remarkable. Hendrix's appeal has been tapped repeatedly by Hollywood with inclusion in the soundtracks to popular films like Cars and Black Hawk Down, to hit TV series such as American Idoland Entourage, and to chart-topping videogame series Guitar Hero and Gran Turismo.