The guitarist deemed the “little brother” of Jimi Hendrix
There are few rock ‘n’ roll presences more iconic or immovable than Jimi Hendrix. The virtuosic guitarist shaped rock music from the 1950s and early ’60s rhythm and blues tradition into his own heavier and unique style, earning him praise as one of the greatest guitarists in living memory.
Since his untimely death in 1970, aged just 27, Hendrix has become almost mythical in status, much like his contemporary and fellow “27 Club” member Jim Morrison. Aside from the strange rock ‘n’ roll romanticism of early passing, Hendrix has remained an elusive figure because his stage presence was so far removed from his ostensibly subdued and introverted off-stage persona.
In an interview with Classic Rock, Dave Davies of The Kinks once appraised Hendrix’s personality: “In real life, Jimi Hendrix was nothing like the wild guy that he portrayed on stage. He was a quiet, introverted guy like Ray [Davies] was. He was explosive on stage but very softly spoken off it.”
Velvert Turner, the American guitarist and frontman of the psychedelic rock band The Velvert Turner Group, was one of the lucky few who saw both sides of Hendrix. One of Turner’s close friends and fellow guitar virtuosos of the 1970s was Richard Lloyd of Television.
Reflecting on his late friend’s unique relationship with Hendrix in a 2023 interview with Guitar Player, Lloyd revealed that Turner first saw Hendrix’s showbiz side on television. “According to Velvert’s mother,” Lloyd remembered. “He was standing in front of the television one day and saw Jimi performing. And he started jumping up and down saying, ‘I have to meet that guy!’ And apparently he sought out Jimi, and Jimi took Velvert under his wing as, like, his little brother.”
“I mean, that’s the story I’ve heard,” he added. “And knowing Velvert, who passed on in 2000, I believe it because he was a wacky kinda guy – a magical-thinking kind of fellow. I was, too. I am, still.”
As Lloyd continued to explain, Hendrix gave Turner, who was nine years his junior, guitar lessons. In turn, Turner imparted his knowledge to Lloyd, making the Television guitarist a student of Hendrix, once-removed.
Thanks to his friendship with Turner, Lloyd met Hendrix in the recording studio and watched him perform several times in New York City. “In my mind, it was like looking into a nuclear reactor,” Lloyd said of watching Hendrix on stage.
Elsewhere in his conversation with Guitar Player, Lloyd remembered unintentionally insulting Hendrix at a gig billed as the ‘Black Roman Orgy’. “[Hendrix] smacked me in the face, the stomach and the face again. I thought to myself, ‘He punches a pretty good punch for a scrawny black guy,'” Lloyd recalls. At that moment, he also thought, “How can I absorb this energy?”
Listen to The Velvert Turner Group’s ‘Talkin ‘Bout My Baby’ below.
