12 Previously Unreleased Fully Realized Jimi Hendrix Studio Recordings Available for the First Time Ever on Valleys of Neptune

NEW YORK, Jan. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Experience Hendrix LLC and Sony Music Entertainment's Legacy Recordings will launch their monumental 2010 Jimi Hendrix Catalog Project on Tuesday, March 9, with the release of Valleys of Neptune, a newly curated album of 12 fully realized studio recordings, more than 60 minutes of music never commercially available on a Jimi Hendrix album, from the artist Rolling Stone magazine called the greatest guitarist of all time.

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Centered around tracks recorded during a pivotal and turbulent four-month period in 1969, Valleys of Neptune unveils the original Jimi Hendrix Experience's final studio recordings, as the group lays down the foundation for its follow-up to Electric Ladyland, alongside the guitar superhero's first sessions with bassist Billy Cox, an old army buddy he'd recruited into his new ensemble.

Valleys of Neptune provides an essential, compelling, and up-til-now largely unseen view of what Jimi Hendrix was up to musically in the critical period between the release of Electric Ladyland in October 1968 and the 1970 opening of his own Electric Lady Studios, the state of the art facility in Greenwich Village where he would begin his final project, the ambitious double album First Rays of the New Rising Sun.

Janie Hendrix, CEO of Experience Hendrix LLC, the Hendrix family-owned company entrusted with preserving and protecting the legacy of Jimi Hendrix, noted, "My brother Jimi was at home in the studio. Valleys of Neptune offers deep insight into his mastery of the recording process and demonstrates the fact that he was as unparalleled a recording innovator as he was a guitarist. His brilliance shines through on every one of these precious tracks."

Valleys of Neptune is originality electrified, offering more than 60 minutes of previously unreleased Jimi Hendrix music, originally recorded, and newly mixed for this historic release, by Hendrix's longtime engineer Eddie Kramer, who first worked with the guitarist on Are You Experienced? in 1967. Valleys of Neptune is produced by Janie Hendrix, John McDermott (who contributes detailed liner notes to the album) and Eddie Kramer.

"Valleys of Neptune" has long been one of the most sought after of any commercially unavailable Jimi Hendrix recording. The song will be released as a single globally on February 2, 2010, nearly forty years after Jimi finished recording the track at New York's Record Plant in May of 1970.

Other highlights on Valleys of Neptune include blazing studio covers of Elmore James' classic "Bleeding Heart" and Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" as well as premier performances of original Hendrix compositions like "Ships Passing Through The Night," "Lullaby For The Summer" and the original un-dubbed Jimi Hendrix Experience rendition of "Hear My Train A Comin'." Also included in Valleys of Neptune is "Mr. Bad Luck," a Jimi Hendrix Experience track, produced by Chas Chandler during the 1967 Axis: Bold as Love sessions.

As part of the opening wave of releases for the Jimi Hendrix Catalog Project, Legacy Recordings will also be releasing new deluxe CD/DVD editions of Are You Experienced?, Axis: Bold As Love, Electric Ladyland, and First Rays of the New Rising Sun, also available on vinyl, on March 9.

Each of the essential titles in the Jimi Hendrix catalog to be newly reissued on Legacy will feature a bonus DVD featuring newly created documentaries directed by the Grammy award winning Bob Smeaton [Beatles Anthology, Festival Express, Beatles: The Studio Recordings] and featuring interviews with Experience members Noel Redding, Mitch Mitchell, Billy Cox, original producer Chas Chandler and engineer Eddie Kramer. In addition, Smash Hits, Jimi's original compilation, will be reintroduced. The critically acclaimed Live At Woodstock will be available as a standard DVD as well as a Blu-ray Disc.

"No artist has ever transformed the pop music landscape as profoundly or as permanently as Jimi Hendrix," said Adam Block, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Legacy Recordings. "We are proud to be partnering with Experience Hendrix in releasing Valleys of Neptune, a treasure for Hendrix fans both new and experienced. It's an auspicious start in fulfilling a shared vision for the Jimi Hendrix catalog going forward."

    Valleys of Neptune
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    Stone Free
    Recorded: Record Plant, New York,  April 7, 9, 14, May 17,1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Billy Cox
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell
    Backing Vocals: Roger Chapman, Andy Fairweather Low

    Valleys Of Neptune
    Recorded: Record Plant, New York, September 23, 1969, May 15, 1970
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell
    Bass: Billy Cox
    Percussion: Juma Sultan

    Bleeding Heart
    Recorded: Record Plant, New York, April 24, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Billy Cox
    Drums: Rocky Isaac
    Tambourine: Chris Grimes
    Maracas: Al Marks

    Hear My Train A Comin'
    Recorded: Record Plant, New York,  April 7, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Mr. Bad Luck
    Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, May 5, 1967
    Producer: Chas Chandler
    Additional bass and drum recording, Air Studios, London, June 5, 1987
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Sunshine Of Your Love
    Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, February 16, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell
    Percussion: Rocki Dzidzornu

    Lover Man
    Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, February 16, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Ships Passing Through The Night
    Recorded: Record Plant, New York, April 14, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Guitar, Vocals: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Fire
    Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, February 17, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass, Backing Vocal: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Red House
    Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, February 17, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Lullaby For The Summer
    Recorded: Record Plant, New York, April 7, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Mixed By Eddie Kramer
    Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

    Crying Blue Rain
    Recorded: Olympic Studios, London, February 16, 1969
    Producer: Jimi Hendrix
    Additional bass and drum recording, Air Studios, London, June 5, 1987
    Vocal, Guitar: Jimi Hendrix
    Percussion: Rocki Dzidzornu
    Bass: Noel Redding
    Drums: Mitch Mitchell

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Experience Hendrix Tour 2010, the fourth edition of the biennial concert tour that features an all-star line up of music greats paying homage to the music and legacy of Jimi Hendrix gets underway in early March with special performances across the country.

Featured artists who will be performing music written and inspired by Jimi Hendrix include some of the best known and most respected artists in contemporary rock and blues including Joe Satriani, Jonny Lang, Eric Johnson, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Brad Whitford (of Aerosmith), Doyle Bramhall II, Ernie Isley, Living Colour, Double Trouble's Chris Layton, along with bassist Billy Cox. Cox, who first befriended Hendrix when the two were in the 101st Airborne Division of U.S. Army, played in both the Jimi Hendrix Experience and Band of Gypsys and performed with Hendrix at such landmark festivals as Woodstock and the Isle of Wight. Cox commented, "It's a thrill for me to play Jimi's music for audiences now as it was in the 1960s."

    March 4 - Santa Barbara, CA - Arlington Theater (1)
          5 - Los Angeles, CA - Gibson Amphitheater (1)
          6 - Las Vegas, NV - The Joint @ Hard Rock (1)
          7 - Mesa, AZ - Ikeda Theater (1)
          9 - Fresno, CA - Table Mountain (1)
         10 - San Francisco, CA - Warfield Theater (1, 2)
         12 - Reno, NV - Silver Legacy (1, 2)
         14 - Denver, CO - Paramount Theatre (1, 2, 3)
         16 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater (1, 2, 3)
         17 - Minneapolis, MN - Orpheum Theater (1, 2, 3)
         18 - Chicago, IL - Chicago Theater (1, 2, 3)
         20 - St. Louis, MO - Fox Theatre (2, 3)
         21 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater (2, 3)
         23 - Akron, OH - Civic Theatre(2)
         24 - Montclair, NJ - Wellmont Theatre (2)
         25 - Red Bank, NJ - Count Basie Theater (2)
         27 - Atlanta, GA - Fox Theatre (2)

    1 = David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas appearing
    2 = Sacred Steel featuring Robert Randolph appearing
    3 = Susan Tedeschi appearing

For more information, visit www.jimi-hendrix.com

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About Legacy Recordings

The multiple Grammy-winning Legacy Recordings, Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division, produces and maintains the world's foremost catalog of historic reissues, an unparalleled compendium of thousands of digitally re-mastered archival titles representing virtually every musical genre including popular, rock, jazz, blues, R&B, folk, country, gospel, Broadway musicals, movie soundtracks, ethnic, world music, classical, comedy and more.

About Experience Hendrix L.L.C.

Founded by James 'Al' Hendrix, Jimi's father, in 1995, Experience Hendrix, has been managed since its inception by the family members handpicked by Al during his tenure as Chairman. It is the official family company charged with managing the music, name, image and likeness of Jimi Hendrix. As a part of their daily operations, Experience Hendrix and Authentic Hendrix oversee Jimi's timeless legacy on a worldwide basis.

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