Tues. Feb. 5 

 "Purple haze all in my brain/Lately things just don't feel the same/Acting funny but I don't know why/'Scuse me while I kiss this guy." That was the glorious fuzzed-out Jimi Hendrix back in 1967. The distortiona and power sure freaked out, but enticed the kid that was me. And, oh yeah, it wasn't "Kiss this guy." It was "kiss the sky." "Kiss this guy" was just one of rock's many humorous misinterpretations of lyrics, like Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Hey, there's a bathroom on the right" in "Bad Moon Rising." Hendrix, of course, is one of the most famous rock guitarists of all time and an early member of the 27 Club (d. 1970), a rocker who mixed his libations (mostly speed and booze, it seems for Jimi) too much and paid the price. He also left a slew of unreleased, unfinished music which later got releaed with such prolificness and regularity you could be forgiven if you thought Hendrix was still alive and churning out albums. (He released three studios albums when alive; 12 after he'd expired.) And those posthumous albums, well, gosh, who knows what to make of them? Exploitation and cash-in or just letting the man's sound live - albeit in contexts he never envisioned - way into the future. Some intimates have suggested Hendrix was on a progression that was leading toward jazz. What Hendrix said about jazz: "I don't happen to know much about jazz. I know that most of those cats are playing nothing but blues, though—I know that much."
    Which leads us to Boston's Jazz Composers Alliance, the 18-piece band that presents "Manic Depression: JCA Orchestra plays Hendrix" Tuesday, February 5 at Berklee Performance Center, featuring arrangements/compositions for the JCA Orchestra by composers Gil Evans, David Harris, Hiro Honshuku, Darrell Katz, Bob Pilkington, and Norm Zocher. (It's not just Hendrix songs; some of the songs are "about" Hendrix.) The Jazz Composers Alliance Orchestra has been a fixture on Boston’s creative music scene since its first performance in December 1985. Is doing up Hendrix jazz-style sacrilege or homage? (I'm thinking of Bryan Ferry's recent project where the Bryan Ferry Orchestra remade Roxy Music songs in big-band jazz form, all-instrumental, without Ferry's vocals. Jury still out.)
     The JCA is a well-respected outfit. Combining dedicated musicianship, innovative programming and fresh compositional ideas; JCA concerts are colorful, adventurous, high-energy events. The JCA Orchestra has released eight critically acclaimed CDs. Featured soloists include David Harris, Jim Hobbs, Hiro Honshuku, Bill Lowe, Bob Pilkington, Forbes Graham, Phil Scarff and Norm Zocher. “.... every community should have one” says Willard Jenkins of Jazz Times. “The band plays with drive and vitality. The soloists responding with imaginative fire to the charts and the ensemble. This is contemporary big band music of a very high order, written and played with considerable skill and integrity”-swing2bop.com/reviews.
   This starts at 8:15. Tix are $12.

136 Massachusetts Ave., 617-266-7455 www.berklee.edu/BPC