Live at the Village Gate

by Mark AllanNo one, not even Robin Trower, embodied the essence of Jimi Hendrix' playing like this sadly unrecognized guitar god. Recorded only four months after Jimi's death, this powerful performance for an appreciative New York crowd has his spirit and some of his chops shot through it. The album's strength is undercut by a long, meandering treatment of the Jack Bruce tune "Can You Follow?" But rock-solid bassist Mervin Bronson and inventive drummer Harry Wilkinson, longtime sidemen for their fleet-fingered frontman, give him all the freedom he needs to crunch his chords, as well as veer off on some jazzy tangents.