Jimi Hendrix, John McLaughlin, Dave Holland, Buddy Miles - NYC Record Plant 25 Mar '69

Extract from :
Black Gold: The Lost Archives of Jimi Hendrix
Noel Redding (Foreword), Steven Roby

"In 1969, guitarist John McLaughlin, who had just signed with Alan Douglas, began working at the Record Plant
on the album 'Devotion'. Joining John McLaughlin on the album were Buddy Miles on drums and Larry Young on Keyboards. While this album was being recorded in the Record Plant's lower level, Hendrix worked in the studio upstairs.

On one fortunate occasion, the two guitarists met. A few days after his arrival in the US, JM recorded with Miles Davis for his 1969 album 'In a Silent Way'. He later jammed with Hendrix at NY's Record Plant, where Hendrix was playing with Buddy Miles, bassist Roland Robinson, and guitarist Jim McCarty (of BM Express). At the request of Mitch Mitchell, John McLaughlin went to the Record Plant with the intention of jamming with Hendrix, not recording.

In 1996, I interviewed John McLaughlin and asked him how the jam with Hendrix took place. read more



'It was through Mitch Mitchell. Mitch and I go back to working with Georgie Fame in the early 60's. In 1969, I was playing with Tony Williams. Mitch was a big fan of his and would come to see us play at the Vanguard. One night Mitch invited us to the Record Plant. I came down with Larry Young and Dave Holland (Miles Davis's bassist 68-70). Basically, we played, but it was difficult because at the time I was using a hollow-bodied acoustic…..like a country guitar. The volume on it was so low and Buddy Miles was playing drums so loud. Dave Holland was there and Jimi played electric. It wasn't really a playing session….it was just hanging out….having a good time. I've only heard a little bit of tape, about two or three minutes, that's all they sent me. It sounded terrible to me.' An energized Hendrix and Buddy Miles dominated the three jams based on blues riffs, and John McLaughlin's guitar static was too distracting to make this a great moment in rock history.

In 1974, Alan Douglas discovered the tape of of John McLaughlin and Hendrix jamming and was ecstatic: 'the tape we have of them together is not only a historical thing, it's very exciting. It's going to have a heavy impact on the musical audience. It's Jimi playing in a bag that's never been released before'. Douglas quickly drew up a promotion campaign and started feeding the press teasers about the jazz-fusion material he had on tape between John McLaughlin and Hendrix. Oui magazine reported in Feb 1975 that Reprise would release one album of this material and Nemperor Records (John McLaughlin's manager's label) would come out with an alternate one. Afetr hearing a sample of these jams, rock critic Dave Marsh wrote in Penhouse Magazine: 'The John McLaughlin/Hendrix tapes are reportedly ten hours long…..once they got started, John McLaughlin and Hendrix achieve the sort of interplay that producers of supersessions always seek but rarely discover'.

Mysteriously, neither record was released and the boasts about hours of recordings full of non-stop jamming were silenced when archivist John McDermott explained in his book "Sessions": 'All that remains of this special summit (March 25 1969) is one thirty-minute reel of recording tape.' No one seems to know what happened to the recordings that inspired Douglas to say, 'I felt like I had been to Tibet.'

John McLaughlin was happy that this project was aborted. 'They were looking to squeeze as much money as possible out of what to me was a scam', he later explained. 'Jimi had already been scammed by these people, because most people will want to buy something on the strength of the name.. Jimi's name and my name, and who ever else was there - it was just a scam. For me, I would have been delighted to see something good to have resulted from it, but it wasn't a recording session. I didn't play very long. There were other guitar players down there. They were all playing good and Jimi sounded great. Jimi was a revolutionary like Coltrane. He could do things with the guitar that nobody has ever done before. We all owe him a great deal'.

FOOTNOTE: When the much anticipated jazz influenced Nine to the Universe LP was released in 1980, the fabled John McLaughlin/Hendrix jams were not included. The thirty minutes of the John McLaughlin/Hendrix jams have surfaced in the collector's network and apparently this is all that remains of the loosely organised jam that John McLaughlin said 'lasted from two til eight in the morning'. If other reels exist from the 6-hour session, they have not surfaced. Since John McLaughlin was not too thrilled with the short sample tape that Alan Douglas gave him, it is unlikely he would ever approve a future release. The songs that appear on the thrity minute tape are "Drivin' South", "Everything's Gonna be Alright", and some experimental improvisation jams."


Jimi Hendrix - guitar
John McLaughlin - guitar
Dave Holland - bass
Buddy Miles - drums

Record Plant 25 March 1969


1 27:39 ( the only cut with John McLaughlin)
2 2:25
3 1:23
4 5:23
5 4:27