The Jimi Hendrix Experience trio included Jimi Hendrix, drummer Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding on bass. This film excerpt from Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A Comin’ features the Jimi Hendrix Experience in promotional film and in performance.

“Are You Experienced as the first album just blew people’s minds,” says Eddie Kramer, who recorded the the Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album. “We tried anything and everything to make the sounds different, because we could.”

Musician Dweezil Zappa agrees: “Before that record was made, a lot of those sounds had never been heard.”

The First Jimi Hendrix Songs

The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut album in 1967, Are You Experienced, is considered one of the greatest debut albums in rock-and-roll history. After the original U.K. release in May, the U.S. release later that summer differed slightly, adding hit singles such as “Purple Haze,” “The Wind Cries Mary,” and “Hey Joe.” Hendrix was unhappy that “Red House” was not on the U.S. album. It was first released in 1969 in the U.S. as part of Smash Hits.

Purple Haze

Purple Haze lyrics by Jimi Hendrix. Design by Ricardo Galvez.

The original working title for “Purple Haze,” the second single of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, was “Purple Haze Jesus Saves.” Contrary to popular assumptions about drug references, the song’s meaning is rooted in a dream Hendrix had about Jesus saving him.