Who sang with Jimi Hendrix on ‘Crosstown Traffic’?
By 1967, Jimi Hendrix had achieved sonic innovations and reached new heights of acclaim that no ordinary 24-year-old could dare to dream of achieving.
The young musician took the electric guitar and, both figuratively and literally, flipped it on its head, reconfiguring the way the instrument could be played and breaking all traditions of sound to explore foreign pathways, travelling towards virtuosity.
The year saw Hendrix climb the UK charts with his eponymous band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, and their singles ‘Purple Haze’ and ‘The Wind Cries Mary’. Inadvertently at the centre of some of rock’s most legendary moments, including Hendrix setting his guitar on fire not once, but three times, the trio was suddenly thrown into a whirlwind of fame and recognition. Soon, they would embark on what would be their final project, with a little help from a mutual admirer.
The Experience took over a year to record their final album, Electric Ladyland, released in 1968. Travelling between the UK and the United States, the trio floated through studios, striving to achieve the standards of Hendrix’s infamous perfectionism. If the band’s namesake wanted to record over 50 takes of a song, as he forced Mitchell to do with ‘Gypsy Eyes’, then, so be it. If he wanted to invite dozens of friends to the studio to curate a vibe, everyone else had to work through the chaos. Each studio Hendrix entered became his insular world, one that worked under the rules of his mad genius.
Dave Mason was one of the many figures who rotated into the Experience’s realm in the studio. The founding member of rock band Traffic had cycled through the band’s lineup twice, finding himself on a shaky foundation with the group before their first album had even debuted. Mason had first met Hendrix after his manager, Chas Chandler, first brought the American rocker to London in 1966. Hendrix was a fan of Traffic; Mason was blown away by Hendrix’s on-stage presence and guitar technique. He then saw Hendrix sitting alone at a club and struck up a conversation; the two would bond over records and often spontaneously jam at live shows.
In between his many tenures with Traffic, Mason took up session work on Electric Ladyland. Arriving at London’s Olympic Studio on January 21st, 1968, with the intention of contributing guitars on a cover of Dylan’s ‘All Along the Watchtower‘, which Mason had heard an advanced recording of with Hendrix at a party. Both musicians were enraptured by the song and set foot in the studio just a few days later to record their rendition. Mason played the 12-string guitar, facing Hendrix as he played his six-string acoustic. As he recalls to Guitar Player: “I stayed and watched the whole session, with him putting bass and electric guitar on the track, and it was one of the most incredible, inspiring musical experiences I’ve ever had. Absolutely inspiring to watch him work.”
Not only did Mason go head-to-head with Hendrix’s wizardry on the guitar, but he also lent his vocals to the album’s second single, ‘Crosstown Traffic’. Despite Hendrix’s perfectionist tendencies in the studio and the magnetism of his stage persona, he was in fact deeply insecure about his vocal abilities. He went so far as to hide himself behind studio screens when recording vocal takes, not wanting to be perceived by the crew. Luckily, on ‘Crosstown’, he had Mason and Redding to sing backing vocals with him.
The song’s eccentric mix of psychedelic funk has loads of Easter eggs hidden inside its grooves. For one, it is one of the only songs on the album to feature the core lineup of Hendrix, Redding and Mitchell, in contrast to the other songs that featured guest musicians. The song also features Hendrix’s makeshift kazoo, handmade from a comb and tissue paper, its buzzing sound woven into the lead guitar of the opening riff. And, perhaps least known in the song’s lore, is Mason’s vocals. He can be heard best in the high note on the word “traffic” in the chorus.
Electric Ladyland saw the Experience achieve their most commercial success yet, with what would be their only number one album. Mason cemented himself in rock history on a rather spontaneous whim, surrounded by fellow musicians who shared the same spirited energy as he did.
“I didn’t do this consciously,” he concluded, “but if you’re going to learn something, you may as well try and put yourself around the best. That’s how it worked out for me.”
