Jimi Hendrix and Clapton Meet On The Killing Floor

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In 1966, a 24-year-old guitarist named Jimi Hendrix shows up in New York City. Up to that point, he’d mostly been a sideman, backing heavyweights like Little Richard and The Isley Brothers. But now? He was done playing second fiddle, Jimi was ready to step into the spotlight.

Jimi pulled together a loose band called Jimi James and The Blue Flames and started gigging around Greenwich Village. That’s where fate stepped in. Enter Linda Keith, a British model (and girlfriend of Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones) who instantly recognized Hendrix’s spark. She became a full-on evangelist for him, dragging every British musician in town to see this wild American guitar player.

One of those musicians was Chas Chandler, former bassist for The Animals. Chas was broke thanks to bad management but had recently reinvented himself as a talent scout and producer. When Linda introduced him to Hendrix at Café Wha?, Chandler saw exactly what she did: a star in the making.

Worried someone else might swoop in, Chas flew Jimi to London almost immediately. Once there, he wasted no time plugging Hendrix into the scene. Within weeks, Jimi was sitting in with bands like the Brian Auger Trinity and turning heads left and right. At one gig, Jeff Beck and Pete Townshend happened to be in the crowd, and suddenly, all of London was buzzing about this guitar player who could do things nobody had seen before.

But the real test? Eric Clapton.

At the time, Clapton was already worshipped as a guitar god thanks to his work with The Yardbirds, John Mayall, and his new supergroup, Cream. Chandler knew that if Hendrix could stand toe-to-toe with Clapton, he’d be unstoppable. So in October, 1966, he brought Hendrix backstage at a Cream gig in London. Clapton, curious about this mysterious American, agreed to let him sit in. Ginger Baker, Cream’s drummer, wasn’t quite as enthusiastic, but he went along with it.

endrix launched into a blistering version of Howlin’ Wolf’s Killing Floor, plugging into Jack Bruce’s bass amp, bending notes until they screamed, and pulling out every wild trick he had: playing with his teeth, behind his head, rolling on the floor, even doing the splits. The crowd went nuts. Clapton? He was floored.

Years later, Clapton admitted in his autobiography:

Of course Jimi played it exactly like it ought to be played, and he totally blew me away… Jimi just went for it.

Others remembered Clapton being a little more...shaken. Journalist Keith Altham recalled him muttering to Chandler afterward: You never told me he was that fucking good..

That night is still talked about as the moment Hendrix stole the crown. Within a couple months, Chandler had assembled The Jimi Hendrix Experience with Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell, and the rest is history.

Hendrix didn’t just share the stage with Clapton, he outshined him. And in doing so, he announced to the world that a new guitar king had arrived.