:35:17
First time I ever saw Jimi
was in Blaze's Club.
:35:20
I just went down for a meal one day.
:35:23
And as I was goin' in,
Jeff Beck was comin' out.
:35:28
He came up to me and said,
"Have you heard about this guy...
:35:33
...that's playin' here tonight, Jimi Hendrix?"
:35:36
"It's a complete disgrace.
He's rippin' off all your things."
:35:40
So, I thought, I had met him before...
:35:44
...in the studio, just said hello.
:35:47
I'd never seen him play.
:35:48
And I went in and saw him playin'...
:35:53
...and was completely floored.
:35:55
Really, just completely...
:36:00
Although, I could see
what Jeff was talkin' about.
:36:03
I could see that, you know,
he was doin' a lot of guitar...
:36:06
...up against the amp and that sort of stuff,
which I had felt were precious trademarks.
:36:11
He was takin' them
and doin' something else.
:36:13
He'd just got into England
and was with his manager, Chas...
:36:17
...Chas Chandler,
and he brought him to this gig.
:36:20
A guy comes up to Clapton
and asks if he can sit in.
:36:26
I doubt whether Clapton got many people
asking if they could sit in, because...
:36:32
...being the world's greatest guitar player,
all the other guitar players...
:36:36
...would be super-deferential about him.
:36:39
Anyway, this guy came up
and Clapton said, "Yeah."
:36:43
The guy plugs his guitar in...
:36:48
...starts to play.
:36:50
Starts to play amazingly.
No one had ever seen anything like it.
:36:54
He's playin' just the fastest,
wailingest blues runs anyone's ever heard.
:36:59
I think he did a "Howlin' Wolf" number
or somethin'. But he did his whole routine.