'I said, 'It's all right playing along with them now, but when you get up there onstage, you do your own thing.' 'Īl had given up his own entertainment career - he was a singer and tap dancer - when he got married. King - but he also offered some practical career advice. Al Hendrix, who played saxophone, encouraged his eldest son to play along with blues records - Muddy Waters, B.B. Jimmy couldn't read music, but he dreamt it. He wanted his own freedom, to play all those songs that were in his mind.' and they wouldn't let him - because he didn't want to be regulated. District Court here is full of feral language, allegations of a mind-numbing, globe-spanning cabal that sucked untold sums from the artistic corpus of James Marshall 'Jimi' Hendrix.Īl Hendrix, Jimi's sole heir, says he doesn't understand the legal jargon, but it all comes down to this: He's suing to reclaim his son's scattered legacy - which is worth at least $30 million, but probably much more, considering the booming interest in Hendrix music, films, photos and merchandise. conspiracy.' The three-foot-high and ever-expanding file in U.S. Al Hendrix, 74, retired landscaper and gardener, heart patient, seventh-grade graduate, never cared too much for owning things, but now he'd like to get back what he has lost. But he always told me if anything ever happened to him, the belt was mine.' 'He said to me, 'Daddy, I bet you can't guess how much this belt cost.' I looked at it and said, 'I know it cost a-plenty.' And he said it cost six hundred and some dollars. Jimi was unabashedly showing off the spoils of rock stardom. That night the Hendrix family - Al and his wife June, younger son Leon, little daughter Janie - would ride in a limo to Center Arena, all giddy with pride. It was February 1968, Jimi's first time back in Seattle in five years, his first concert here with the Experience, his triumphant return to a city he had never especially liked. On a somber afternoon, in his modestly appointed split-level suburban home, the father tells the story:

In his mind, he can especially see one beautiful silver and turquoise belt that Jimi wore. 'There were a lot of things I saw there that I didn't get. 'I said, 'Whatever is his, send to me,' ' Al Hendrix remembers. He entered a room piled with guitars, fancy outfits and jewelry. It's been going on since Jimi died, when Al went to New York to inventory his famous son's possessions. It's been going on so long that the old man is apt to just shrug, laugh it off, put on his tight, accepting almost-smile. Over the years, fans have sweet-talked their way into Al Hendrix's home and walked off with family photographs thieves have broken in and taken gold records off the wall. Hey all want a piece of Jimi sometimes they just steal one. SEATTLE - 'People who dig ditches for a living don't know how lucky they are.' - Jimi Hendrix (1942-70)

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