Hendrix as Force of Nature
What makes Hendrix a special guitar player? It’s not his speed or technical proficiency, but the way he translated ideas from his imagination through an instrument. When you watch him play, you see him vocalizing with his mouth, as if a singular force is animating his fingers and head in a kind of possession state. It feels like a kind of body language that makes a performance genuine (vs. staged showmanship, which Hendrix also did a lot of). He describes states of synesthesia, where he seems images and colors and tries to give form to them. To me Hendrix represents the chaotic force of the imagination, an actual force of nature unchained in real-time.
Sort of related, here’s a stream-of-consciousness surrealist story that Jimi seems to make up on the spot. The plot mutates, he spontaneously shift accents, delivery, and facial expressions, and makes sound effects with his mouth, as if he’s just attempting to translate the thing coming across his mind with the tools he has (his mouth and face).