It’s been known for a while that Jimi Hendrix and Miles Davis had plans to record together, which never came to fruition due to Hendrix’s untimely death, but thanks to an unearthed telegram, it’s been revealed that the duo, along with jazz drummer Tony Williams, asked one Sir Paul McCartney to step in as their bass player.
According to The Associated Press, the telegram, dated 21st October, 1969, reads “We are recording an LP together this weekend in NewYork. How about coming in to play bass stop call Alvan Douglas 212-5812212. Peace Jimi Hendrix Miles Davis Tony Williams.”
The telegram was sent to The Beatles‘ Apple Records, although it’s not clear if the request ever made its way to McCartney. His aide Peter Brown responded to Hendrix and Brown the next day, saying that McCartney was away on holiday and to try sending him a text or a tweet instead and that he would be unavailable for the next 2 weeks.
The telegram has been part of the Hard Rock Cafe’s collection since 1995 but caught attention again with the posthumous release of Hendrix’s People, Hell And Angels, which came out back in March. And although the supergroup was always an unlikely proposition due to the short notice given by the guitar and trumpet legends, let’s take a moment to imagine the possibility – obviously they were never going to be as great as, say, Mr. Big, but maybe they’d come close.
