Jimi Hendrix's Moroccan Chest
Owner
Jimi Hendrix
(American, 1942 - 1970)
Date1924
ClassificationsMusic
DimensionsOverall: 26 5/8 x 40 3/8 x 17 3/8 in. (67.6 x 102.6 x 44.1 cm)
DescriptionAn antique Moroccan wooden chest, owned by Jimi Hendrix, and used to store demo tapes in his New York City apartment. Acquired from Stella Douglas Shapiro, one of Hendrix’s closest friends during the last years of his life. Shapiro is the ex-wife of Hendrix’s record producer Alan Douglas, and appears in the 1973 documentary A Film About Jimi Hendrix. Her relationship with Hendrix has been extensively documented.During the late 1960s, Stella and her friend Colette Mimram owned a Greenwich Village shop frequented by musicians like Miles Davis, Janis Joplin, Carlos Santana, and Jimi Hendrix. They sold eclectic clothing and furnishings, and designed custom-made outfits for artists including Hendrix, most famously the white-fringed turquoise beaded jacket he wore at the Woodstock Festival.
In 1969 Howe and Hendrix flew to Morocco to join Colette and the Moroccan-born Stella for a vacation. Cross wrote Jimi spent nine days in North Africa, and they were probably the most joyous of his entire life. According to Howe, ‘It was the best, and maybe the only vacation he had.’
At our request, Stella filmed an accompanying 15-minute video interview, where she spoke about her relationship with Hendrix, and the history of Hendrix’s Moroccan chest and a bronze Buddha statue that also belonged to him. Douglas recalled that when she first met Hendrix, he was living in New York City, in a basement room in the apartment of his manager, Michael Jeffery. It was filled with equipment and guitars, and Stella told him he needed his own apartment. A few days later she found one for him, at 59 West 12th Street, and soon after began to decorate it for him.
She says of the Moroccan chest ‘We had it in the store, and Jimi kept looking at it; we were just starting to furnish his place. He said ‘You know, I’m going to need this piece.’ I asked why and he said ‘I’m going to put my tapes in it’. I told him ‘It’s a big piece’ but he said ‘Well I like it.’ So, we had it carried to his apartment.’
‘I saw him many times open and close it. Jimi would play all the time, especially late at night, on acoustic or even electric, without the electricity on. He’d write words, and would tape on a little recording machine. And he’d throw the tapes into this. It was in the living room, so it was accessible. I saw him in the last two years putting tapes in it.’
Stella describes how Michael Jeffery said to Alan Douglas after Hendrix’s death, ‘Why don’t you take the Buddha’—a birthday gift Alan had given Jimi, and he said to me ‘Why don’t you take the box. But you have to do it fast, because we have to give the apartment back.’ They took the Buddha and had the chest moved to their apartment. When they divorced, Stella kept both, as treasured mementos of her friend Jimi.
Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) was a guitarist, singer, and songwriter who is often considered one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Hendrix began playing guitar at 15 and performed with bands in his hometown of Seattle before enlisting in the U.S. Army in 1961. Hendrix served for one year before he was discharged in June 1962. After leaving the Army, Hendrix began performing as a backing musician, where he played with several artists including Sam Cooke, the Isley Brothers, and Little Richard on the R&B and blues circuits.
Hendrix then formed a short-lived band, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames, before he moved to London to start the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966. Their first single, "Hey Joe," was met with critical acclaim. The band's debut album Are You Experienced? was released in May 1967 and was an immediate hit. Their June 1967 performance at the Monterey Pop Festival further cemented Hendrix's status as one of the best guitarists and live performers of the burgeoning rock scene. Hendrix and the Experience released two more studio albums, Axis: Bold as Love and Electric Ladyland, which were both critical and commercial successes. The Jimi Hendrix Experience broke up in June 1969, shortly before Hendrix headlined the Woodstock Music and Art Fair, where his performance of "The Star-Spangled Banner" became a catalyst moment in the counterculture movement of the 1960s.
Hendrix was at the height of his fame when he died on September 18, 1970 at 27 years old. He is remembered for his inventive guitar playing and his flamboyant stage presence, and is cited by countless musicians as an influence. He and the Experience were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
