Kill the Music: Yameta Spy Experience

The year 1962 marked the beginning of a three-year odyssey in which Hendrix would network within the music industry. After his discharge, Hendrix drifted around Ft. Campbell for a few months while he waited for the discharge of a friend, bassist Billy Cox. During the summer and fall of that year, he and Billy performed together around the Nashville area. That winter, he returned to British Columbia to ocassionally sit in for Bobby and the Vancouvers guitarist Thomas Chong, later of Cheech and Chong fame.

During 1963, he worked mostly as a gofer or chauffer to other musicians. On some of the road shows headed by Sam Cooke, Hendrix tagged along, running errands for such stars as Dionne Warwick and the Crystals, all the while jeered when on the bus he relaxed by practicing his guitar.

The Chitlin’ Circuit, a collection of venues starring black artists, featured a number of rock’s biggest names, among them “Little Richard” Penniman, The Memphis Sound (the legendary band that starred in the Blues Brothers), and the aforementioned Sam Cooke, all of whom took a chance on the unknown, unproven player. Pretty soon, however, the young man whom many initially regarded as having “iffy” talent began to improve remarkably. As he did, he began to chafe under his role of sideman, often upstaging the fronting stars. Penniman told of how during the middle of a live performance, a surge of applause and screaming arose for no apparent reason. He turned to find the spotlight on Hendrix. As Little Richard would recall in later years, “We didn’t know he could play with his teeth.” (Listen to Sam Moore tell the story of how Hendrix upstaged him on NPR's Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me!)

In 1965, Hendrix finally drifted to Manhattan, where he formed his own band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. While there, he jammed considerably with the likes of Richie Havens, Bob Dylan, John Hammond, Jr., and Chuck Berry, who nicknamed him “Superbrother.” He drew the notice of record producer Ed Chalpin, who recruited him as a sideman for Curtis Knight and the Squires. Hendrix, in turn, recruited Chalpin to manage him.

Linda Keith, girlfriend of Rolling Stones founder Keith Richards, brought her boyfriend to Greenwich Village to hear Hendrix at the Café Cheetah. Enthused, Richards brought Animals bassist Chas Chandler to hear him play. Chandler convinced Hendrix that stardom awaited for him in England, so off he went. Hoping more to go into the business side of rock, Chandler introduced him to bassist Noel Redding. After a nerve-racking audition, they selected drummer Mitch Mitchell, and together, the three formed the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

Despite the fact that Hendrix already had a manager, Chandler and his manager, Michael Jeffery, muscled out Ed Chalpin to co-manage the Experience. Jeffery immediately set up the Yameta Corporation, an offshore company based in the Bahamas, to handle Hendrix’s financial affairs, and named Chandler, and Animals frontman Eric Burdon as co-principals.

Chalpin got along well with Hendrix, even after Jimi kicked him to the curb in favor of Jeffery. Despite the fact that he sued Hendrix for breach of contract, Chaplin loaned him $5,000 while the case still pended (they settled out of court). Chaplin even considered managing Hendrix again during the guitarist’s last few months of life.

Jeffery, however, hated Hendrix. Hendrix didn’t like Jeffery at all, and one can easily see why. Jeffery had to have been among the worst agent/managers (if not the worst) in the history of music. It was he who booked the infamous joint tour with the Monkees. His scheduling often left much to be desired. He would typically book Hendrix in San Francisco one day, Miami, FL the next day, and Los Angeles the day after that.

The incessant travel took its toll on the members, as did the constant bind for money. Jeffery and Chandler assured the band that the bulk of their earnings went to Yameta so that once the money stopped rolling in, Hendrix, Mitchell and Redding would have something to fall back on. Consequently, the Experience lived on a stipend--which for Redding, the lowest paid of the three, meant making do on £15 a week. (After Redding walked out, Yameta lured him back by upping his stipend to match Mitchell’s). After stealing one of Jeffery’s ledgers, however, friends of Hendrix showed the megastar that his manager had been ripping him off big time. Jeffery would typically tell the Experience that a gig for $50,000 was actually for $10,000, for example.


So the question would be why Hendrix spurned a manager whom he liked and admired greatly, one who had an ear for music, and had demonstrated competence as an artist manager in favor of the contemptuous and hideously incompetent Michael Jeffery. As it turned out, Hendrix had little choice in the matter. He tried many times to fire Jeffery, only to find that he couldn’t without great risk to life and limb.

You see, Jeffery’s screwups came about partially because of his inexperience. Before 1965, Jeffery did not have much to do with the world of rock and roll, for he made his living doing something else. He was a career soldier for the British Army, Intelligence Corps.