On this day in music, May 3, 1968, The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” a track that would become one of Hendrix’s most iconic songs. Featured as the final track on the group’s third and final album, Electric Ladyland, the song was released as a single in the UK shortly after Hendrix’s untimely death in 1970. It became his only No.1 hit in his adopted country. While often confused with the nearly 15-minute jam “Voodoo Chile,” recorded earlier during the same sessions, “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” stands as a fiery showcase of Hendrix’s guitar mastery and enduring legacy.
“Voodoo Chile” was recorded at the Record Plant in New York City following a late-night jam session featuring Jimi Hendrix, Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, organist Steve Winwood, and bassist Jack Casady. This extended blues improvisation later inspired “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” which was recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience the next day and would go on to become one of Hendrix’s most iconic songs.
The word “Chile” is a phonetic spelling of “child” without the final ‘d.’ In the UK, the 1970 single release of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” was mistakenly titled “Voodoo Chile,” leading to long-standing confusion between the two distinct tracks.
During the Electric Ladyland recording sessions at the Record Plant in New York City, Jimi Hendrix frequently jammed with other musicians from local clubs. After one such jam at the nearby Scene club on May 2, 1968, Hendrix brought around 20 people back to the studio. This practice of inviting large groups into the recording space caused tensions within the band—bassist Noel Redding stormed out of the studio earlier that evening and did not participate in the recording of “Voodoo Chile.”
Among those present were Traffic’s Steve Winwood (organ), Jefferson Airplane’s Jack Casady (bass), and jazz guitarist Larry Coryell. Although Coryell was invited to play, he declined. Hendrix went on to record “Voodoo Chile” with drummer Mitch Mitchell, Winwood, and Casady, while the rest of the group remained to provide ambient crowd noise.
Winwood later recalled: “There were no chord sheets, no nothing. He [Hendrix] just started playing. It was a one-take job, with him singing and playing at the same time. He just had such mastery of the instrument and he knew what he was and knew his abilities.” Despite its seemingly spontaneous nature, engineer Eddie Kramer explained that Hendrix often planned these sessions carefully: “Jimi plotted and planned out nearly all of them. He’d reason that if he had his songs together, if he really wanted to pull out what he heard in his head, he needed the right people… and that’s what he did.” During the session, Hendrix is even heard coaching Winwood on his organ parts.
Recording began around 7:30 a.m., and according to biographer John McDermott and Kramer, three takes were captured. The first was a warm-up, during which Hendrix introduced the song and engineers adjusted the equipment. During the second take, Hendrix broke a guitar string—these two takes were later edited together and released posthumously as “Voodoo Chile Blues” on the 1994 Blues compilation. The third take became the final version included on Electric Ladyland. Music writer John Perry has claimed there were at least six takes, although many were incomplete.
“Voodoo Chile” opens with a series of hammer-ons reminiscent of Albert Collins’ “Collins Shuffle.” Hendrix played through a Fender Bassman amp, delivering a “very warm” tone with his guitar tuned a whole step down. While Hendrix’s guitar and vocals take the lead, each musician contributed significantly to the song’s unique character. Winwood’s mid-song organ part is described by McDermott as “a very English, hornpipe-like dance,” while Perry calls it “a modal, raga-like phrase,” to which Hendrix responds with a blend of blues and Eastern scales. Mitchell’s drumming is reactive and dynamic, and Casady’s bass playing anchors the entire performance with a deep, pulsing groove. At over fifteen minutes, it stands as Hendrix’s longest studio recording.
To recreate the atmosphere of a live jam session, Hendrix wanted authentic crowd noise, but the initial recording lacked sufficient ambiance. From 9:00 to 9:45 a.m., onlookers were recorded providing crowd sounds, which were later enhanced with tape delay and other studio effects during mixing.
While many live versions of “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” exist, only three studio takes of the original “Voodoo Chile” jam are known. A composite of the first two appears on Blues (1994), while the complete third take remains the definitive album version.
he day after recording “Voodoo Chile,” Hendrix returned to the Record Plant with drummer Mitch Mitchell and bassist Noel Redding for the filming of a short documentary. Instead of recreating the previous night’s lengthy blues jam, the trio improvised a new, more structured track using elements from “Voodoo Chile”—reworking its imagery and guitar lines into a tighter, high-energy performance. “We learned that song in the studio,” Redding later recalled. “They had the cameras rolling on us as we played it.” This session gave birth to “Voodoo Child (Slight Return),” which would become one of Hendrix’s most enduring signature songs and a staple of his live performances. Both tracks were included on Electric Ladyland.
Confusion Over the Title
Jimi Hendrix occasionally used alternate names and spellings for his songs, which has contributed to lasting confusion between “Voodoo Chile” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” In his handwritten lyrics, Hendrix used “Voodoo Chile” for the extended blues jam, while he alternated between “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” for the subsequent trio recording.
In his handwritten notes to the record company for Electric Ladyland, he listed the songs as “Voodoo Chile” and “Voodoo Child (Slight Return).” When the album was released in the U.S. by Reprise Records on October 16, 1968, these spellings were preserved. However, the UK release by Track Records listed the songs as “Voodoo Chile” and “Voodoo Chile (Slight Return),” further muddling the distinction.
The confusion deepened in 1970 when the shorter, more famous track—“Voodoo Child (Slight Return)”—was released as a single in the UK under the simplified title “Voodoo Chile.” Since then, album reissues have generally followed either the U.S. or UK spellings, depending on the country of release.
On January 1984,Stevie Ray Vaughan recorded “Voodoo Child (Slight Return)” on the album” Couldn’t stand the weather” which I personally find a better version.
sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Chile
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_Child_(Slight_Return)
History of Sorts 
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