WHEN HENDRIX IS CHILD’S PLAY, THE ONLY PLACE TO GO IS UNCHARTED MUSICAL REALMS
By Jim Beaugez
LEARNING THE SONGS of Jimi Hendrix is a rite of passage for guitar players as they woodshed and work to master the instrument. But some get there earlier than others — like Marcus Machado, who treated students and parents at his own kindergarten graduation to a cover of “The Wind Cries Mary.”
For the legend’s 80th birthday in 2022, he organized a sold-out celebration of his music at Cafe Wha?, the Greenwich Village spot where Chas Chandler discovered Hendrix in 1966. Machado recruited musicians like Juma Sultan, a percussionist who played with Hendrix at Woodstock, and curated a set heavy on songs from his Band of Gypsys era.
“I didn’t want to become a cover band [playing] ‘Purple Haze’ or ‘Hey Joe,’” Machado says, “so I took some of the deeper cuts and put my own spin on it.”
The well-established rock, funk and soul guitarist expresses the influence of Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Prince — as well as hip-hop luminaries A Tribe Called Quest and J Dilla — not by copying their styles, but by soaking up inspiration and making genre-blending music of his own. After establishing himself on his 2015 EP 29 and debut long-player Aquarius Purple in 2021, Machado now uses his collaborations with jazz-R&B artist Jon Batiste, and rappers Pharoahe Monch and Pete Rock, to step out of his usual lane.
“With Jon, it’s like free range,” he says. “Of course, you have to learn the
