On June 18th, 1967, Jimi Hendrix had his coming out party at the Monterey Pop Festival playing on Sunday night of the festival, and of course, lit his Strat on fire at the end of his groundbreaking set. Those in the know (Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Brian Wilson and Smokey Robinson) were all on the organizing committee and helped secure a spot for the otherwise unknown trio of The Jimi Hendrix Experience. The rest is history.
Just a few shows later, and on the other coast, Hendrix shows up in New York on July 3rd, 1967, ready to play. After scrambling for a hotel that would rent a room to the long-haired rockers (their original booking wouldn't allow them to check-in), they played a few gigs at a joint called SCENE, and got ready for the Rheingold Central Park Music Festival. On July 5th, while sharing the bill with The Young Rascals and Len Chandler, the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Hendrix, Mitch Mitchell and Noel
Redding) came out a-blazing. Their set, still on the short side as they were not at this stage considered headliners included: Purple Haze, Hey Joe, Like a Rolling Stone, The Wind Cries Mary, I Don't Live Today, Foxy Lady, and Wild Thing.
Linda McCartney was still Linda Eastman at the time of this show, and was living in NYC. Bill Graham had recently hired her on as the new staff photographer at the Fillmore East. As such, it was an easy jaunt for her to go over to catch Hendrix on a Wednesday evening in Central Park. In turn, she caught a moment in that show that would become one of the most iconic images of Hendrix ever taken.
This Silver Gelatin photograph of Hendrix, printed in 1985, was taken by Eastman but printed long after she took Paul's last name, McCartney. Accordingly, it is signed by Linda McCartney in the lower right corner. Her signature is rather scarce in her work, making this photograph that much more unique and valuable. This 16 x 20 photograph remains in Near Mint minus condition (see below). It was
archival framed from roughly 1990 to 2005, then immediately reframed, utilizing new-best-in-industry archival materials. It is presently unframed and stored flat (archival). Comes with a Gotta Have Rock & Roll Certificate of Authenticity.