Experience Hendrix to Rock NJPAC March 29

Experience Hedndrix

8 p.m. March 29 at New Jersey Performing Arts Center

1 Center St., Newark

Tickets: $53 to $133

more info: https://www.njpac.org/ or 888-GO-NJPAC

An all-star cast of guitar virtuosos will pay homage to Jimi Hendrix at the "Experience Hendrix" concert on Friday March 29 at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark.

The lineup is spectacular and worthy of paying tribute to one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Jamming away will be Billy Cox, who performed with Hendrix in the Band of Gypsys, the otherworldly Joe Satriani, all-around great Eric Johnson, legendary bluesman Taj Mahal, six-string mastermind Dweezil Zappa, shredder Dave Mustaine of Megadeth, soulful rocker Dug Pinnick of King's X and many more.

We recently spoke with Eric Johnson, an Experience Hendrix tour veteran and remarkable guitarist who has been amazing and pleasing audiences for over 35 years. Johnson nimbly shifts from instrumental rock, jazz and fusion to blues, acoustic and classical. He's best known for his 1990 crossover breakthrough, "Ah Via Musicom."

That record is half instrumental, half featuring Johnson on vocals. The jaw dropping instrumental "Cliffs of Dover" has become his calling card. "Ah Via Musicom" won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

Johnson's latest release, "Collage" (2017), is an engaging collection of his takes on classic songs covering a variety of genres, including Hendrix's "One Rainy Wish."

Below is our chat with Eric Johnson.

No matter how long you've listened to and played Hendrix it seems there's always something new to bring to a performance.

There really is. He's a really great rhythm player and just his feel for the rhythm, you can always work on that and interpret it and try to draw new sounds out.

Tell us about the Experience Hendrix show. Do the players perform individually, in groups, is there a lot of jamming?

It's a little bit of everything. Every artist is spotlighted in how they interpret Jimi's music and there are a lot of collaborations and a big jam session at the end of the night. We're all getting together for the common purpose of playing music we love, Jimi's music, and it's kind of like one big musical party.

How do you divvy up who plays which songs?

Usually within a couple months of planning the show people put what they'd like to play into the hat. Then the production people also make suggestions as to what they feel is the artist's forte and in terms of creating a show with a good flow. Then there are certain songs that certain artists always do.

Can you tell us what you'll be playing?

I'll be playing "Bold as Love" and "Are You Experienced?" Those are the ones that I've always gravitated towards. I like the chordal things he does on those. I've also sometimes played "Third Stone from the Sun," "The Wind Cries Mary" and "Love or Confusion."

When did you first hear Hendrix?

I was already playing guitar but not for too long. I was about 12 or 13 and I heard "Foxey Lady" on the radio. I remember just wondering whether it was even a guitar or not, with the distortion and the feedback. I thought maybe it was a broken saxophone. It was so foreign to me but incredible. If you put it in the perspective of the time, the late 60s, everything happening was new and exciting. "Foxey Lady" was the first song that I learned. That and "Third Stone from the Sun." "Manic Depression" was the first song by Hendrix that I performed on stage.

What to you is the essence of Jimi Hendrix?

I think it was his pushing for a higher mark of artistry on the guitar. The guitar was a vehicle, the engine, to write great music and leave a stamp that would be emotionally connecting to people. His goal was going beyond what others were doing in terms of connecting people to music.

If someone said to you, "I want to get my kid into Hendrix, where should they start?" What would your answer be?

Just to listen to the three albums ("Are You Experienced" "Axis: Bold as Love" "Electric Ladyland") in order. I just finished listening to the entire Beatles catalogue in order and it's a really cool experience to go back and do that.

You recently played anniversary concerts for your 1990 commercial breakthrough, "Ah Via Musicom," which won the 1991 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. What was it like revisiting that time?

It was really good. The audiences really enjoyed it. It's been very therapeutic for me. As you go through your art, if you look at in chapters you morph and change and learn other stuff as you go through time but you don't necessarily keep everything in your back pocket that you've done before. Some of that gets lost. I went back when I prepared for the tour and studied what I was doing at that time and found some things I was doing guitar-wise and reincorporated that back into my playing.

Your last album, "Collage," was released in 2017. Are you working on new material?

I've got a record that's almost totally finished right now. I just need to do a couple of overdubs and mix it. We have some more shows after the Experience Hendrix tour and then I have some plans for some other types of material.

Does your upcoming album lean electric or acoustic?

People who have heard it are saying it's really different than anything I've done before. It was going to be an acoustic-piano driven record but then I started overdubbing some upright bass and drums and electric guitar. It's really a hybrid and I'm looking forward to getting it out.