[Harp-L] [OT] Review : Nguyen Le - Purple : Celebrating Jimi Hendrix

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I have posted a review of Nguyen Le's album "Purple" on my harmonica weblog 
at http://harmonica.typepad.com. There is no harmonica in this album, but I 
know there are fans of the same kind of rock I'm interested in on the list 
(like Garry) and fans of Jazz as well, so I figured this could be 
interesting to some of you. 

Here are the first few paragraphs of the review to see if you're interested 
: 

Jimi Hendrix is widely recognised as a master of rock guitar who influenced 
many great musicians in his wake, and justly so. Unfortunately, this means 
that we get fed tributes, compilations and frankly, pointless covers on a 
regular basis. 

Now, I?m generally all for covers when they bring something to the original, 
be it a different arrangement, a re-reading, something. But Hendrix covers, 
maybe because he?s such a revered figure, usually end up as below-par 
versions of the original. About the only exception I can think of off-hand 
(altough I should point out that I?m not familiar with the album by the Gil 
Evans Orchestra which has a strong reputation as far as Hendrix rewritings 
go) is Stevie Ray Vaughan?s posthumously released version of ?Little Wing?. 
While faithful to the original, this specific rendition is a vehicle for a 
spark of improvisational genius that SRV displayed too scarcley, in my 
opinion, but really shines on this particular track. 

Having said that, the following review may come as a surprise to you, 
considering that this record is nothing but Hendrix covers. ?Purple?, by 
French jazz guitarist Nguyen Le is even subtitled ?Celebrating Jimi 
Hendrix?, hence the contradiction. Except? except ?Purple? is nothing like a 
bland album of subpar imitation. The ten classic or slightly obscure Hendrix 
compositions included here are given a complete reinterpretation in a jazz 
rock context that never imitates and yet is in a way more faithful than the 
most faithful imitation... 

You can read the rest at http://harmonica.typepad.com 

Ben FELTEN