Jimi Hendrix - Hey Joe

This is a live performance by guitar legend Jimi Hendrix playing his version of the classic song "Hey Joe". The song is from the 1960s and it became a rock standard. The original authorship of the song isn't certain, but the earliest known commercial recording of the song was done by The Leaves in 1965. The most famous version however was Jimi Hendrix's recording from 1966.
The song tells the story of a man who is on the run after shooting his wife. He is planning to go to Mexico on a hideout.
It's a great performance by Hendrix. What I really love about this is the pace of the song, it's quite slow allowing for some awesome soulful soloing by Hendrix.

Above is a version from 2007 featuring former members of Hendrix's band. It features Billy Cox and Mitch Mitchell from Hendrix's former band, Steve Winwood on Hammond B3 organ, and Slash on guitar. It's a good version, I especially like Winwood's singing and playing on this. Slash is all right too, but of course no match to Hendrix.
Hendrix really pulls all of the stops on this performance, first playing with his teeth, and then playing the second solo behind his head. It's showmanship, but the crazy thing is that it sounds just as good as if he'd picked it out traditionally. Only Hendrix could pull something like that off and that's why he's a legend.
Being a rock classic and standard, the song has been recorded countless times. It has been recorded by: Cher, Wilson Pickett, Deep Purple,Roy Buchanan, Patti Smith, Seal, Type O Negative, Eddie Murphy, and Robert Plant. It that is only a snippet of the people and artists who have done this song.
I love the Hendrix version of this. And this is a great performance by him, just pouring his soul out through his guitar, truly a legend!

Enjoy ; )

Tower of Power ft. Santana - What Is Hip?

This is a live performance from the legendary funk band Tower of Power playing their famous song "What Is Hip?". Carlos Santana is sitting in with the orchestra, and does a little solo, he does all right, but you can tell that he's a bit out of his element. Still doing a pretty good job in my opinion.
Santana's band and Tower of Power are intervened, and members of Tower of Power have played in Santana (the band), so this collaboration might not be as far fetched as one would think. Santana's current keyboardist David K. Mathews started out playing for Tower of Power, or at least rose to fame playing with them.
I think it's a good performance, and this is true funk. It's on a grand scale, with a full horn section and an energetic Brent Carter leading the jam, and keeping the audience in tune as well.
A good performance, of a good funk song.

Enjoy ; )

Rory Gallagher - All Around Man

This is a magnificent performance from blues extraordinaire Rory Gallagher, it's from the concert at BBC's Grey Whistle on March 2nd 1976 which was also the date of Rory's birthday.
The song was originally performed by Bo Carter, but Rory's version is just smokin', no doubts one of Rory's best performances ever, though I don't think there is such a thing as Rory's best performance. Rory was an artist who gave 100 % on stage, and in that sense you could easily say that all Rory's performances were his best.
I really love this song and performance. Rory really shows the extent of his talent, by playing some of the best bottle neck slide I've heard, period! It's amazing, it's fast, but still keeping feel, and being right on spot in terms of intonation and execution of the playing. Not only do we get Rory's guitar playing, but Rory also plays a really good solo on the blues harp. He uses a harmonica microphone, and gets that perfectly good blues sound. He also shouts into that mike on the musical breaks of the solo. He also does something similar with his slide playing, where he sings the part, as he's playing it, true feeling, true blues!
We also get a really good piano and Hammond Organ solo from Lou Martin who also joins in as Rory is soloing on the blues harp. They basically riff off each other, and Lou tries to play the lines Rory just played, it's amazing, a true jam between two good musicians.
This is just an amazing performance from Gallagher, definitely one of his best, though all his performances pretty much fit that mark.

Enjoy ; )

Eric Clapton - River Of Tears

This is a performance from Buenos Aires in 2001 by Clapton performing the song "River Of Tears". It's a pretty slow song with a lot of classic Clapton solos, played with a lot of emotion, in that Clapton style that seems to be his trademark. These are the kind of solos you'd expect from Clapton slow and kinda mellow while still played with the utmost perfection.
The song is very long, and also features a very beautiful part with the Hammond Organ. It's a very pretty song, and it perfectly displays all trades and sides of Clapton as an artist. His singing on this song is also that special brand of heartfelt and soulful singing where you can just feel the emotion in his voice, it's wonderful, just wonderful.
This is a great song, and probably not one of Clapton's most famous songs. It's a great performance by both Clapton and his wonderful band.

Enjoy ; )

Deep Purple - Highway Star

Okay, thought it was about time for a little rock 'n' roll. This is a performance from 1972, Deep Purple perform their classic song "Highway Star" in Denmark. The song and lyrics are pretty straight forward rock 'n' roll, but the organ solo and guitar solo are not your typical rock solos. They stray from the classic pentatonic scale, and Ritchie Blackmore wanted a sound inspired by Bach.
It's a great song, and I really love it. I think it's one of Purple's best songs, and this performance is energetic and perfect, and they all deliver. Ritchie plays great, Gillan sings well and Lord delivers an amazing organ solo that's easily the highlight of the performance.

Enjoy ; )

Santana - Oye Como Va

This is a performance from the "Live By Request" DVD featuring Santana performing live, and with some guest artists. It's a great performance, the band is just perfectly in sync, and everything rocks. Santna's guitar solo is amazing, and the solo on the Hammond Organ is just the highlight of the performance.
DVD can be purchased; click here for USA and here for Europe.

The song was originally done by Latin jazz and mambo musician Tito Puente. His version is a little slower and features other instruments, like a horn section and an acoustic piano. Here Santana talks about how he rearranged the song.
It's a great song and a smoking performance.

Enjoy ; )