Living Colour guitarist

wasn't sure he should join the Band of Gypsies Revisited show when he was first asked by bassist Jared Michael Nickerson.

"I almost begged off from the gig because I thought they should one of the handful of dudes who are legit Hendrix people," he said. "My connection to him is somewhat oblique, coming through other artists who were influenced by him.

Band of Gypsies Revisited will play the

in Greenfield on May 18 as part of the launch of a retrospective photo and art show "The Hendrix by Haytay Experience," by visual artist Nona Haytay.

Reid talked about Jimi Hendrix and his influence on both him and music in general in recent telephone interview.

It's funny because "Band of Gypsies" was kind of my actual introduction to Hendrix.

I was too young to take note of it when he blew up on the scene, although I do remember seeing Hendrix on "The Dick Cavett Show" when I was a child, and I thought it was fascinating because the thing about it was that anytime a black person was on television back then, it was an event. And to have such a unique person show up, it was crazy. So even as a child, I was like "this guy is fascinating."

But it was later when I was in Brooklyn Tech High School, when one of my classmates told me I really needed to listen to Jimi Hendrix and the "Band of Gypsies" record, which came out right before he died.

I have my own approach the instrument, and he certainly is an influence, but I have many other influences. But he means a tremendous amount to me as a creator. And he means a lot to me as a guitarist, but he almost means more to me as a person who created a context for his music. That's a huge thing. And what I mean by that is that he created a world for him to do what he did. And that was a bigger influence on me than me trying to play exactly like he did. I think trying to play exactly like he did misses the point.

I said we've got to get him because he's a top-shelf drummer, but the other thing is that he sings like a bird. And you can take all kinds of liberties with Hendrix's music, but with "Band of Gypsies," the drummer also has to be able to sing. Because [drummer] Buddy Miles was the other part of the equation.

We do not do carbon copies of the songs. This is Bandit of Gypsies Revisited. It's not a tribute band. Every note is not the same, and we don't dress or try to look like them. That's not what we're doing.

A lot of different ones, but I love "Are You Experienced." And I think "Machine Gun" is one of the most important songs he ever did.

Three things he did that were iconic were when he did "Wild Thing" at Monterey Pop and set his guitar on fire ... Then I would jump to his version of "The Star-Spangled Banner." He basically remixed the national anthem and made it incredibly relevant to that moment in history, and the third thing is "Machine Gun."

He was a remarkable figure because he was beloved by the hippies but he was also beloved by the Vietnam Nam veterans. Because with "Machine Gun," he went into that horrible, terrible situation. And the fact that he served and served proudly made him a truly unique figure in the culture of that time.