V02-T02 Purple Haze

.....I'm not certain, but this may be the only selection I've used in this series that was also performed live for a PBS fundraiser. It's definitely the only one introduced by a slightly baffled-looking Richard ('John-Boy Walton') Thomas.

Volume 2: "WE'RE ALL GOING TO JAIL FOR THIS, AREN'T WE?", track 2

• 02:52 "PURPLE HAZE" (Jimi Hendrix)
• performed by Kronos Quartet
• original source: CD KRONOS QUARTET Elektra/Nonesuch 9 79111-2 (US) 1986
• and my source: the same

.....Kronos is a string quartet devoted to 20th century composers. To many in classical music circles, they seemed to have come out of nowhere to minor superstardom when this album and its follow-up, "White Man Sleeps" came out. They had actually been recording for labels like CRI, Reference and Landmark for a few years. They were better known for working with Philip Glass, Steve Reich and Astor Piazzola but anyone from the 20th century was fair game. This got released as a vinyl promotional single for radio stations, unusual for a classical group at the time. It also became an in-concert favorite. It might even have been the impetus for putting them on the Elektra "Rubaiyat" compilation discussed in the notes to Volume 1; they did a cover of Television's "MARQUEE MOON" which I found disappointing. That was an excellent choice of material for a string quartet and had the potential to be hypnotic if arranged as a canon, but their version was actually shorter than the original. "PURPLE HAZE" is a mostly faithful arrangement, if not exactly a transcription, and it's not surprising that it translates well to live performance and that it has held up for them year to year.