Just like life itself, music history is brimming with sliding doors moments. While these prove to be majorly consequential, as seen in the careers of heavyweights such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, on the other hand, the annals of music are also stuffed with bright ideas that never came to fruition due to pure happenstance, but if they did, would have surely changed the game.
While there are numerous instances of bold dreams failing to materialise, arguably the embodiment of this is that jazz extraordinaire Miles Davis and rock pioneer Jimi Hendrix failed to recruit Beatles maestro Paul McCartney for a supergroup that would arguably have been the most star-studded the world has ever seen.
Famously, Hendrix and Davis were big fans of each other. Although they came from different musical fields, Hendrix was a big fan of Davis’ boundary-pushing jazz and Davis was a huge admirer of Hendrix’s own virtuosity. While no actual collaboration was ever released between them, they did jam together on numerous occasions at Davis’ apartment. Due to the power of such convergences, they planned to record together as part of their dream fusion supergroup, but tragically, Hendrix’s September 1970 death stopped this from happening.
Prior to his death, Hendrix had spoken extensively about his dream of creating a new, celestial form of fusion music, and to do so, he and Davis knew that they had to have the right band. Joined by the legendary jazz drummer Tony Williams, who had been a key part of Davis’ ‘Second Great Quintet’ and a crucial ballast for the trumpeter’s pioneering jazz fusion, the trio were convinced that only one man had the appropriate bass-playing skill to join them: Paul McCartney.
Confident that they’d be able to hook the Liverpudlian, whose group The Beatles were clearly winding down and splintering at the seams, on October 21st, 1969, they sent a telegram to the Fab Four’s Apple Records, inviting McCartney to join them in the studio for a session.
“We are recording and LP together this weekend in New York STOP How about coming in to play bass STOP call Alan Douglas 212-581 2212.” The message read: “Peace Jimi Hendrix Miles Davis Tony Williams.”
Unfortunately for the trio, their dream of recruiting McCartney never transpired. The Beatles’ personal assistant, Peter Brown, replied on behalf of the ‘Yesterday’ songwriter informing them that he was on holiday, and would not be back for two more weeks. This was because McCartney had grown so tired of the notorious “Paul is dead” rumour that he had retreated to his secluded farm in Scotland. It was from the property that he later replied to the rumour, saying: “Do I look dead? I’m as fit as a fiddle”
