Jimi Hendrix from Patti Smith: Idea/Quote I find Fascinating and Inspiring:
“He dreamed of amassing musicians from all over the world in Woodstock and they would sit in a field in a circle and play and play. It didn’t matter what key or tempo or what melody, they would keep on playing through their discordance until they found a common language. Eventually they would record this abstract universal language of music in his new studio. ‘The language of peace. You dig?’”. (Smith, Patti Just Kids (pg. 169). 2010.)
This idea is objectively amazing. Aside from my love of Jimi Hendrix, or that I find Patti Smith’s Just Kids to be one of the better books I’ve ever read in my life, or even that I love to create improvised and collaboratory music and I think the idea itself would just be incredibly fascinating to try out. This idea is amazing when looking at it from the lense of being willing to fail and experiment no matter what stage you’re at in your career/life.
Some quick background on this conversation. This conversation comes from an encounter Patti Smith had with Jimi Hendrix circa 1970 (just weeks before he died) at his studio’s (Electric Lady) opening party. At this point in time, Jimi (27) was the most popular and highest paid musician in the world (Patti Smith was 24, a cashier, and was still 2+ years away from her first performance). They also had this conversation the first time they ever met.
I don’t want to over analyze this quote and encounter, I believe that some of the beauty of this quote/encounter are the different ways you can interpret it depending on what lense you look at it through. (I almost just posted the quote with no context at all, but that felt lazy). But the fact that the highest paid musician in the world openly shared his new big and crazy idea with a complete stranger. And that his idea was to try and bring people together from all across the world under a unified idea and they would push through their discordance and failure until they achieved success, peace, and understanding. Is, in my humble opinion, pretty inspiring.
Keep on playing through the discordance. You dig?
From “Creative Quick Takes” circa 2019