wokka wokka

Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience is totally dead.

This matters to me because he is responsible for quite possibly the most awesome drum break I've ever heard. Or at least one of the most minimal drum performances that sticks out to me as being wholly excellent. Come to think of it, maybe its just the amazing quality of the recording of Little Wing on Hendrix In The West that got to me at a really young age. After I had found said album in the attic from my mom's old cache, this particular performance of said song was pretty much the only thing I played off it at all. It sounded almost too good. After the intro guitar when the drums kicked in via the left speaker, sounded almost too loud and crisp to be possible. Later I discovered this magical sound moment was due to vinyl not having a hard 0 to master absolute loudness to. Because of this, after having the speakers at a comfortable level of loudness for the intro portion, the drums can extend to their own maximum volume with a level of dynamics because of the magic of the format. I just mangled any sense out of those last few lines, but theres a true concept somewhere in there.

Obviously the guitar parts pretty much sell the song, but they're framed by some really awesome drum fills. And its more than enough to stand up to such guitar virtuosity and know how to frame it. The drumming here more than frames it and actually manages to support and enhance it through very little. Actually maybe in retrospect the song is just amazing and that makes the drums amazing. But still, the guy that did that died. And stuff.