1969 was a period of upheaval and transition for Jimi Hendrix. While 1968's Electric Ladyland was a strikingly ambitious masterpiece, efforts to record a follow-up had stalled, and tensions were growing between Hendrix and the members of his backing group, the Experience, particularly bassist Noel Redding, who had grown tired of Hendrix's unpredictability (and was perhaps overestimating the public's desire to hear his new band, Fat Mattress). The Jimi Hendrix Experience would play their last show at the end of June 1969, and 2022's Live at the L.A. Forum, April 26, 1969 documents a somewhat chaotic gig two months before the trio imploded. Hendrix and his band were playing for an overzealous capacity crowd who were eager to get as close to the stage as they could, while a similarly determined group of policemen working as security at the show were doing all they could to hold them back. In the midst of it all, the Experience were trying to play a show, and the result is a performance where Hendrix has to occasionally urge the crowd to cool out in the midst of a set full of extended jamming. If this isn't the most tightly focused Jimi Hendrix Experience performance of all, it shows the group was still capable of delivering exciting, remarkable music even under difficult circumstances. The feel of the show is loose, beginning with a 15-minute jam on "Tax Free," a little-known number by the Swedish combo Hansson & Karlsson, and ending with a 17-minute exploration of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" that takes a detour through Cream's "Sunshine of Your Love" about nine minutes in. (The set also includes a short preview of the version of "The Star Spangled Banner" that would become an iconic part of Hendrix's set at the Woodstock Music and Art Fair that August.) As always, the interaction between Hendrix and drummer Mitch Mitchell is at the heart of this music; the bursts of jazzy fury from Mitchell's kit mesh well with the noisy sonic wanderlust of Hendrix's guitar, and both were in an inspired fashion this evening, while Redding's bass gives the music a simple but steady foundation. Though the evening might have been something of a challenge in terms of crowd control, Hendrix's between-song banter finds him in impressively good humor, and the imagination and daring in his songwriting and guitar work is still dazzling 53 years later. The original recordings of the L.A. Forum show were engineered by Wally Heider and Bill Halverson and remixed by Eddie Kramer for this, the first authorized release of the full concert, and the depth, detail, and sense of space in the audio serves this performance well. It sometimes seems like every note Hendrix played that was documented by recording equipment will eventually see authorized release, but Live at the L.A. Forum, April 26, 1969 is a superb reminder that most of that music is still vital, rewarding, and well worth hearing. ~ Mark Deming