On the occasion of the 80th birthday of the late American guitarist Jimi Hendrix, the publications are piling up and the opportunities to evoke his destiny are numerous and exciting. An illustrated book, published by Editions Petit à Petit, sketches, in great detail, the epic of this flamboyant instrumentalist augmented by the wise comments of Yazid Manou, press attaché and instigator of the first Jimi Hendrix festival at the Olympia in Paris, in September 1990. Editions Glenat also published a drawn evocation of the guitar-hero from the pen of two enthusiasts, Mezzo and Dupont, already authors in 2014 of another thrilling work devoted to the bluesman Robert Johnson.
On November 27, 1942, one of the future giants of the “Black Music Epic” was born in Seattle in the United States. Jimi Hendrix’s musical adventure is now known to everyone, but choosing to tell his artistic journey through the prism of drawing is a very relevant educational and playful issue. The force of the image reveals, in an almost palpable way, the social context in which the main character evolved. To magnify the line is not necessarily a caricature, it is to insist on the pangs of a tumultuous daily life.
In “Kiss The Sky”, Mezzo and Dupont revitalize a distant time when young Jimi Hendrix discovered the blues, faced intolerance and saved himself from a rowdy family environment by immersing himself in music. This learning of adult life feeds their story until the year 1966 on the eve of a great journey towards glory and fame. This first chapter of Hendrix’s story should continue with a Volume 2 that the disciples of the famous guitarist are already impatiently awaiting.
Yazid Manou, for his part, punctuated with his inspired annotations the sketches of 27 illustrators who tell, page after page, the different episodes of a tormented and, ultimately, celebrated existence! Jimi Hendrix lived 27 years. The 27 designers tastefully image the hectic stages of a dizzying ascent. Their personal style instantly identifies an era, a slice of life, an event. This Docu-BD updates the progressive evolution of a young virtuoso totally absorbed by his art, whose immense and pioneering talent will hoist him beyond the stars.
Jimi Hendrix’s 80th birthday also legitimizes the release of an album recorded live at the Los Angeles Forum in 1969 as well as a biography, soberly titled “Jimi”, edited by John McDermott and Janie Hendrix, the guitarist’s half-sister. and asset manager. Jimi Hendrix never stops writing his own legend. And to think that he only released 4 records between 1967 and 1970!