Hendrix's early recordings with Curtis Knight and the Squires to be released

Hendrix's early recordings with Curtis Knight and the Squires to be released

Legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix, between 1965 and 1967, was in the line-up of R&B group Curtis Knight and the Squires and with them he recorded many tracks.
Now 88 studio recordings dating back to Hendrix's stint in the band have been bought by his family's music company (Experience Hendrix LLC) and Sony Music's catalogue division (Legacy Recordings) and will be properly released.
This is the end of a long legal fight between the Hendrix family, on a side, and PPX Enterprises and Ed Chalpin (who had recorded the tracks), on the other.

Chalpin, at the time, signed Hendrix and Knight to a three-year recording contract for his company PPX, which created backing tracks for movies, paying him a meagre $1 and a 1 percent royalty. When Jimi went solo and became a famous artist, his manager Chas Chandler was able to buy Hendrix out of every deal at the time - with the exception of PPX.
The company, seeing the rising fame of the guitar player, then issued a number of Curtis Knight recordings with covers that made it look as though Hendrix was the key member.
Disputes over the contract stretched into the 21st century, preventing a proper release of the material.

The masters that have been bought include a live performance recorded in Hackensack, New Jersey in December 1965, as well as Curtis Knight and the Squires' recordings with Hendrix in 1967 after the Jimi Hendrix Experience's debut, "Are You Experienced", came out.
Legacy and Experience Hendrix want to release this material with a proper mix and mastering, with annotated versions of each recording ,in new editions. Longtime Hendrix engineer Eddie Kramer will supervise the whole operation and the albums will be out during the next three years.