THE JET SET

RECORDINGS WITH JIMI HENDRIX
The only known recording with Jimi playing on an Allen twins recording (as opposed to Arthur and Albert guesting on a Jimi Hendrix session) is the song "Mojo Man "from voodoo land"" by the Jet Set. The original 1969 recording had a new guitar overdub added by Jimi in 1970.

I`ll here mainly discuss the new 1970 version with Jimi, for more detail on the original 1970 the Jet Set 7" single pressing of the 1969 recording of "Mojo Man "from voodoo land"" (including all the fun matrix number and pressing plant goodies) see the Jet Set Discography -page.

Albert Allen described the origin of the recording as follows, from the liner notes of the Jimi Hendrix lp People, Hell And Angels: 2
"I was in New York when Jimi called and invited me to come to Los Angeles", remembers Allen. "Billy Cox was with him and Jimi wanted me to meet him. Jimi told me that Billy was an old friend that he had been recording with. When I arrived, Jimi was doing an interview with Rolling Stone magazine at the hotel. I played Jimi the two songs that I had recorded at Fame Studios. He said that he liked them but nothing further came of it."

film about screenshot
A FRAME FROM "A FILM ABOUT JIMI HENDRIX"

Pretty much the same story had already been published on the Univibes website prior to the official release of "Mojo Man", Albert Allen:
“When I arrived they was doing an interview with Rolling Stone magazine [conducted by Jerry Hopkins on 8 June 1969]. In between the interview, I played a couple of tunes that my brother and I did while we was in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. One was called ‘Jet Set’ and the other was called ‘Mojo Man.’ Jimi said he liked them but that was the end of that.

Albert`s sequence of events and the description of the meeting in Los Angeles fits the interview done by Jerry Hopkins for Rolling Stone at Beverly Rodeo Hyatt House 8 June 1969 where Billy Cox was also present. Jimi had been recording with Billy Cox in New York City in May 1969, since Albert Allen had not met Billy in NYC in May it could be that he had been at Fame Recording Studios in Muscle Shoals at the time, working on the recordings. Surely they must have been done fairly recently if Jimi hadn`t heard them yet. Or perhaps he just was out of town at the time but apparently for one reason or another he had not met Jimi & Billy in New York. It does seem strange for Albert to fly to Los Angeles just to meet Billy and play his tape to Jimi - maybe the visit also had something to do with Jimi`s plans for forming a new band in time for Woodstock?

In the absence of any recording dates for the Jet Set Fame session for now I`ll assign a VERY speculative "May??? 1969" recording date for "Mojo Man "from voodoo land"".

Both the liner notes of People, Hell And Angels  and Univibes list the same two songs as being on the tape that Albert Allen played to Jimi, "Jet Set" and "Mojo Man". Interestingly the album liner notes have Albert saying "I had recorded" and the Univibes website "my brother and I did" so it`s not clear whether both Allens were present at the Fame session or just Albert.

Copyright registrations back this song information up and include two more titles for a total of four 1969 registered tracks: 1

LET THE JET SET SWING; w & m Albert
Allen. 3 p. © Albert Raymond Allen;
3Dec69; EU152022.

CAN`T GET AWAY; w & m Albert Allen.
2 p. © Albert Raymond Allen; 3Dec69;
EU152023.

ELECTRIC MOJO MAN; w & m Albert Allen &
Arthur Russell Allen. 2 p. © Albert
Raymond Allen & Arthur Russell Allen;
3Dec69; EU154943.

MY VISION; w & m Albert Allen & Arthur
Russell Allen. 4 p. © Albert Ray-
mond Allen & Arthur Russell Allen;
3Dec69; EU154944.

(The B side of the single, "It`s Not The End", was recorded in1962 so was not done at the 1969 Fame session, see the Jet Set Discography -page)

Albert Allen described the 1970 Electric Lady Studios guitar overdub session on the Univibes website as follows:
“We went back to New York to work on Jimi’s album down at Electric Lady Studio. We was working on this tune called ‘Dolly Dagger.’ My brother and I were doing the background vocals. In between the takes, Jimi reminded me of the tune ‘Mojo Man.’ He said, ‘Remember that song ‘Mojo Man’ that you played for me when I was out in LA. Can you get it for me? I got some ideas I want to lay down on it.’

“I said sure, you know. I told him but I don’t have the master tape – ‘I only have a cassette.’ He said, ‘That’s okay. We can make a new master, Eddie knows how to do that.’ Eddie Kramer was working on ‘Dolly Dagger.’ So I went home, I got the tape and I brought it back. Jimi laid down some fantastic guitar licks on it. And from that point on we called it the ‘New Mojo Man.’”


the jet set ROJ 130 side A


MOJO MAN "FROM VOODOO LAND"
Composers: Albert Allen, Arthur Allen
Arranged by: ?
Recorded at: Fame Recording Studios, Muscle Shoals, Alabama, USA
Recorded at: Electric Lady Studios, New York City, New York, USA (guitar overdub)
Engineer (Fame Recording Studios): ?
Engineer (Electric Lady Studios): Eddie Kramer
Producers: Claude Sterrett & Jack Taylor ?
Date: May??? 1969
Date (guitar overdub): circa August 1970
Bass: unknown
Drums: unknown
Guitar: unknown
Guitar: unknown
Guitar: Jimi Hendrix (1970 overdub on mixes 2 & 4)
Piano: James Booker 3
Tambourine: unknown
Horns: unknown
Vocals: Albert Allen
Harmony vocals: Arthur Allen? (mix 1 only)

The track is credited as "A Taylor-Sterrett Production" on the label but this might just be "company policy" and not necessarily the real producing credit since Rojac was based in New York City and the track recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Apparently the Fame Recording Studio band plays on the record which may also mean that a Fame staff producer produced the session. It seems that in addition to "Mojo Man "from voodoo land"" at least one additional track, "Jet Set" (aka "Let The Jet Set Swing"), was recorded.

As the Jet Set Rojac single was the second to last issue that the label put out before folding it may not have been optimally promoted or distributed and it could have been that the Twins were thinking about some sort of a re-issue for "Mojo Man "from voodoo land". Which could be a reason for Jimi adding overdubs on a song that had already been commercially released.

The liner notes on People, Hell And Angels omit any mention of other guitar players on "Mojo Man", the two main rhythm guitar parts on the track are however from the original 1969 session and hence probably played by unidentified Fame session musicians and NOT Jimi Hendrix.

Mix 1
Original version of the song released in a mono mix in 1970.
Available on:
7" The Jet Set: "Mojo Man "from voodoo land" / It`s Not The End" (Rojac ROJ 130) USA 1970

Mix 2
This is a 1.23 sample of the complete 3.47 track that was supplied by the Twins to Univibes, the very start of the track is clipped.

This is a "stereo" mix of the song. An alternate mono mix of the original 45 single version (according to Albert taken from a cassette, with the harmony vocals mixed out) has been panned left in the stereo field. The right channel contains what sounds like one continuous "real time" single take guitar overdub added by Jimi at Electric Lady Studios in New York City circa August 1970. According to the People, Hell And Angels liner notes Eddie Kramer recorded two guitar parts by Jimi but only one part seems to be audible on this sample (which of course is incomplete).

Mix 3
This is a completely redone version of the track that was released as a digital download 27 November 2011 on amazon.com. Again using the same take as mix 1 but now the track starts with a count in which sounds like it could be part of the original take. The original vocals have been removed and completely new vocal parts with new lyrics have been added by the Aleems. The flow of Jimi`s guitar part has probably also been rearranged but without a complete original version to compare to it`s impossible to tell. The mix is basically in mono making it even harder to compare individual instruments.

Mix 4
I suspect that Eddie Kramer has created this mix in Protools from the two track tape used for Mix 2. Again, it`s very hard to tell for sure as we don`t have a complete version of Mix 2 which I suspect uses the original guitar part that Jimi recorded, with just one track of guitar.

But if you listen to the start of the version on People, Hell And Angels and compare that to the Univibes sample Mix 2 and the reworked Mix 3 there are now multiple simultaneous guitar parts popping in and out and panning in the stereo image. If Jimi had originally added all of these guitar overdubs on the master why is there just one continuous guitar track audible on the Univibes sample?

My theory is that Kramer boosted the bit naked sounding original guitar overdub by rearranging it into a more extensive arrangement of rhythm guitar parts, small snippets of pasted in guitar seem to drift out left and center. This also masked the "two separate mono channels" -mix of the available "master" tape. But as with the previous mixes, without a full original version to compare to this is just my speculation.

This version is the longest of all of the mixes at 4.07 running circa 15 seconds longer at the end compared to the original 45 version, Mix 1.

Available on (as "Mojo Man"):
Cd Jimi Hendrix: People, Hell And Angels (Sony Music / Experience Hendrix / Legacy 88765418982) EU 2013



With thanks to Doug Bell



SOURCES
1 Catalog of Copyright Entries 1969 Music July-Dec 3D Series Vol 23

2 the liner notes to People, Hell And Angels attribute the quotes to ARTHUR Allen, not Albert. The same liner notes, however, credit Albert with lead vocals, and Univibes also attributes the story to Albert Allen.

3 the liner notes to People, Hell And Angels credit James Booker with piano, no source for the information given (one assumes the source is Albert Allen but this isn`t explicitly stated to be the case)