Returning once again to Electric Lady, Hendrix enthusiastically kicked off the session right where the prior night’s left off. In visiting “Straight Ahead” Hendrix, Billy Cox, and Mitch Mitchell concentrated on forming a new master take of the song. The trio then moves to recordings for “Astro Man.”
Back at Electric Lady Jimi records the master takes of “Night Bird Flying” and “Straight Ahead.” Joined by percussionist Juma Sultan these sessions proved to be among his most productive in the post-Electric Ladyland days. He follows these recordings with takes of “Beginnings,” “Freedom,” and a loose recording simply titled “Messing Around.”
Jimi holds his first recording session in the new Electric Lady Studios at 52 West 8th Street in the heart of Greenwich Village. Hendrix invites his friends Steve Winwood and Chris Wood from Traffic into the studio where they quickly break into an impromptu jam session.
Returning to the “Studio C” at the Record Plant, continued work on “Freedom” was the focus of the group’s attention, resulting in 19 takes of the song, of which 15 were particularly spirited, although no master resulted from these takes Hendrix moved future studio work on “Freedom” over to his own Electric Lady Studios in late June.
Always privy to hitting the studio to try out some new songs, Hendrix led the group back to New York. Although work on Jimi’s own Electric Lady Studios was nearing completion, after a brief test session with Eddie Kramer on piano, it was decided that more tweaking was necessary at the new facility before Hendrix should christen it.
A master mix for “Sky Blues Today” was achieved during the session at the Records Plant. This master, coupled with “Izabella” from the session on the 12th would later be released (April 13, 1970) on the short-run single “Stepping Stone” b/w “Izabella” (Reprise Records, 0905)
Back at the Record Plant, additional rough mixes of “Izabella” plus “Sky Blues Today” were completed. The mix of “Izabella” was considered the master.
During a mixing session for Band Of Gypsys at the Record Plant, Dave Ragno and Bob Hughes joined Hendrix for the completion of a rough mix of “Izabella.”
Although Jimi was not present at the Record Plant’s Los Angeles studio, engineers Stan Agol and Dan Turbeville mixed a four-track recording of “Star Spangled Banner” for the upcoming Woodstock soundtrack (Cotillion, SD 3500) was completed
