Guitarist Larry Lee and long-time friend of Jimi Hendrix passed away on October 30 at the age of 64.

Born Lawrence H. Lee Jr. on March 7, 1943 in Memphis, Tennessee, Lee was a student at Tennessee State University in Nashville when he met both Billy Cox and Jimi Hendrix in early 1963. The three forged a friendship that lasted a lifetime.

Cox and Hendrix were performing blues and Top 40 R&B as members of the group The King Kasuals at the Del Morocco, a small Nashville nightspot. Lee was soon recruited to join their group. "We were the house band," Lee recalled in a 2005 interview. "We played four nights a week for $11.00."

Hendrix and Lee's friendship deepened over the months that followed. Beyond the King Kasuals, Cox, Hendrix and Lee sought opportunities for advancement within Nashville's bustling chitlin' circuit.

By late summer, Lee's music connections helped Hendrix land a role with Bob Fisher & The Barnesvilles. The ensemble backed The Impressions, whose guitarist and songwriter Curtis Mayfield was a major influence on both Hendrix and Lee. Together with The Marvelettes (Motown's first all-girl group), this package tour traveled throughout central Tennessee. Hendrix would leave Nashville for New York in late 1963 but Lee remained in Nashville. "Jimi said that he wanted to try and make it in New York," Lee recalled in 2005. "I hated to see him go. He was one of my tightest buddies but he said that he wanted to try to make it in New York. I gave him a coat I had and wished him good luck."

Lee continued to work as a backing musician in Nashville, touring with The Impressions and other rhythm and blues artists who passed through Nashville. "I was kind of using Tennessee State as an excuse to stay out of the Army," Lee remembered. "If you were a full time student you could get a deferment. At that time I was going on the road with The Impressions and when I wasn't, whatever train was leaving Nashville that needed a guitar player, I was on it! When my deferment finally ran out I got drafted."

As a US Army serviceman, Lee was sent to Vietnam. He ultimately suffered a head wound in combat during his tour of duty. While in Vietnam, Lee was surprised to learn of his old friend's remarkable success leading The Jimi Hendrix Experience. "I had a friend that sent me a magazine that had this big layout about Jimi," Lee explained in 2005. "I said, 'Wow!' I couldn't believe that this was my old partner. I kept that magazine with me during my time in Vietnam because I didn't want to take no chance on losing it."

Two weeks after his Army discharge in 1969, Lee was stunned when Billy Cox and Hendrix telephoned him at his mother's home in Memphis. Lee was invited to come to New York to reconnect with his old friends and to play together once again. By August of 1969, Jimi Hendrix was one of the most popular music artists in the world. The departure of bassist Noel Redding from The Jimi Hendrix Experience accorded Hendrix the opportunity to try out new musicians whom he felt could contribute to the evolution of his music.

Lee headed to upstate New York with guitar in hand and worked as a rhythm guitarist with Hendrix, Cox, Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell and percussionists Juma Sultan and Jerry Velez. Hendrix dubbed this expanded musical ensemble Gypsy, Sun & Rainbows and the group would serve the guitarist during his appearance at Woodstock in August 1969. The resulting performance at the Woodstock Art & Music Fair is widely considered one of the single most influential live performances in music history.

"I had no idea that Woodstock was what it was," Lee remembered in 2005. " Jimi said we got this gig here, and he just said it casually like he did everything else, you know and I had no idea where Woodstock was. He didn't have to say much because I knew he was the man and he knew that I would support him. Early life is a trial life for later life you know and he knew he could depend on me as a friend and as a musician."

In the aftermath of Woodstock, Lee appeared with Hendrix on the Dick Cavett Show and on a number of studio recordings that have surfaced in recent years. While there were hints of the promise Hendrix hoped for with the expanded ensemble, his management was eager for him to reform the three-piece Jimi Hendrix Experience and resume touring and recording. One final performance by Gypsy Sun And Rainbows took place on September 10, 1969 at The Salvation nightclub in New York before Larry Lee headed back to Memphis. "I don't know how much pressure the management put on Jimi to be honest," Lee recalled in 2005. "I just know there was a conflict and that was the reason I told Jimi that I would leave. He was fighting a battle that maybe if I was gone it would be more like what they wanted. They wanted the three-piece group. It had been a hit and was a moneymaker, so I just told him I was gonna leave. I just came on back to Memphis. I was hoping that that would take some of the heat off Jimi."

During the 1970s, Lee rose to musical prominence as musical director and lead guitarist for Al Green . Lee was a constant throughout Green's triumphant run as one of the most popular vocalists in the world. Lee led Green's touring band on multiple concert tours and appeared on such television programs as The Tonight Show. Al Green & The Spidells even covered one of Lee's self-penned compositions "Judy," that he wrote during the time he spent with Hendrix in Nashville in the early 60s.

More recently, Lee collaborated with friend Timothy Lee Matthews on a CD called Songs For The Giants which featured Lee's complimentary rhythm and lead guitar styles on several tracks on the release. In addition to these contemporary recordings, several of Lee's recordings with Jimi Hendrix have been released on CD and DVD, many for the first time ever. The 2-DVD set Live At Woodstock (The Definitive Edition) also features some of Larry's final recorded interviews (from 2005) where he was joined by Billy Cox back in New York to recount their early days with Hendrix while touring the chitlin' circuit up to their historic performance at Woodstock.

"Larry Lee was a sweet guy who will be dearly missed by all his friends, family and loved ones," reminisces Janie Hendrix. "We will always cherish the time we had together while we worked with Larry during production of the Woodstock film. He will always be fondly remembered."

Larry Lee could always make Jimi and I laugh," explains Billy Cox. "You couldn't have met a nicer man. We loved his spirit and it was special to us all that we were able to get together again and play the music we loved. Like Jimi, he will missed but always remembered."

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