The moment Nils Lofgren almost played with his hero Jimi Hendrix: “Devastated on so many levels”
If you’d ever found yourself with even the slightest chance of jamming with Jimi Hendrix, you’d have taken it, right? If you’re in the same room and both have your instruments on you, this isn’t the sort of opportunity you’d pass up, and would be something you’d live to rue for the rest of your life.
For a teenage Nils Lofgren, who can claim to have played with a number of legends later in his career, it wasn’t for a lack of trying, but his dream wasn’t to be when faced with the opportunity at the Scene in New York.
Lofgren, who has played alongside Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young throughout an illustrious career, had got himself down to the venue early to see Buddy Miles Express and the Terry Reid Group. After some initial struggles getting into the venue as a precocious 17-year-old, he finally managed to fight his way in, and after spending a little time soaking up the music and atmosphere, a certain Jimi Hendrix walked into the club.
As one might be able to imagine, the energy of the room ramped up once people noticed that Hendrix was present in the room, and as Lofgren attests, both bands had played “inspired sets”. Afterwards, with the mood still buoyant, an impromptu jam session began in the bar area, and when Lofgren noticed a spare guitar on stage, despite it missing a broken string, he saw an opportunity to join in with the ongoing blues session.
It wasn’t the tightest of sessions, and Lofgren’s impediment wasn’t helping, but things would suddenly get even more nerve-wracking when Hendrix slowly began to approach the stage. The young Lofgren, according to his recollection of the event in a blog post on his website, began to panic, believing that a dream of his was about to come true. “Oh my God!” Lofgren wrote. “He has walked right up to the lip of the bandstand and is now standing directly in front of me! What the hell?! Does he want me to give him the guitar I’m using and jam? Does he know it’s a right-handed guitar?”
When Hendrix began to speak, Lofgren nervously looked up, only to realise that he was speaking to the bassist. “Hey man, let me play some bass,” he allegedly asked. This thrilled Lofgren an enormous amount, with his teenage brain having to remind himself that he needed to focus on playing and not worry about the fact that Jimi Hendrix could be joining him on bass while he’s playing an out-of-tune and broken guitar.
However, the bassist’s response was curt, and not exactly what Hendrix or Lofgren wanted to hear. “Not now Jimi, I’m groovin’!” he retorted, and despite Hendrix’s repeated requests, he was denied again due to the bassist’s adamance.
Not only were the room denied a chance to see Hendrix play, but a young Lofgren was denied the most mind-blowing jam session of his life by the selfishness of the bassist. Recalling his reaction at the time, Lofgren said: “I am now so sick to my soul and devastated on so many levels, I’m afraid I might be ill. So I remove the guitar, set it on the stand and wander off into the club in a daze of confusion and disillusionment at the meaning of musical life. I cannot bear to look at this bass player or the bandstand again.”
