UNDATED (CBS) -- Jimi Hendrix died in 1970 at the age of 27, but his influence on music continues to this day.
Rolling Stone magazine called Hendrix the "greatest guitarist of all time." Now, a new album of never-before-heard Hendrix recordings is coming out.
The new album is called "People, Hell and Angels". Eddie Kramer says, "I just get lost in the music, I can't help it."
A dozen songs first put to tape between 1968 and '70, feeding an endless hunger for a rock & roll visionary. Kramer says, "Jimi's voice is just so beautiful, it's so intimate. It's right in your face."
Eddie Kramer was more than Jimi Hendrix's sound engineer. He was also a trusted friend. He hasn't strayed from the man and his music, working on all 12 albums released since Hendrix' death nearly 43 years ago. Kramer says, "All of this music that he was doing this period was him searching, that restless mind of his searching for something. We're hearing the raw elements of that search. And that's what makes it so compelling."
"Somewhere" is the first single from the new album. It already hit number one knocking Adele's "Skyfall" off the top of the charts, a testament to his enduring appeal.
It was June of 1967 at the Monterey Pop Festival that the legend of Jimi Hendrix was born. Janie Hendrix says, "See how fluid his hands move, his arms, he's playing with his teeth, behind his back, between his legs."
Janie Hendrix is Jimi's sister, younger by 18 years. The CEO of experience Hendrix, she oversees his estate which still sells over one million albums a year. At Monterey he out-shined every other musician, then in a blazing finish, set his guitar on fire and smashed it. Janie says, "It's from the heart, it's from the soul and my dad once said that there wasn't a note Jimi played that he didn't like. And I really feel that in Jimi's music is where his soul lives."
Kramer's friendship with Hendrix took hold in the UK, where Jimi had already made a name for himself before being discovered stateside. Through the years, he took some pictures in the studio, backstage with Mick Jagger, writing a song.
According to Kramer, Hendrix free-wheeling public persona was very different from the man he knew who was focused on his art and his business. Kramer says, "I've seen pads of notes about concerts, how many ticket sales, how much merchandise did we sell, make sure this is prepared, make sure that is prepared, the man was so meticulous, and when you look at him you would never think that."
Jimi Hendrix's Star Spangled Banner at Woodstock in the summer of '69 became a defining moment in rock n roll history. Originally, he was scheduled to headline Sunday night but various delays, including the rain that turned Yasgur's farm into a muddy bog, left him to wail away by the dawn's early light.
This album is the last of Hendrix's studio work. He died in 1970 of drug induced asphyxia. There are, however, still some unreleased live performances in the vault.