Quincy Jones once claimed a Microsoft billionaire could play “just like” Jimi Hendrix. He wasn’t even joking
Music producer Quincy Jones once said Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen sang and played “just like” Jimi Hendrix, apparently meaning it as praise for Allen. The comparison was striking given Jones’s reported frustration with Hendrix, whom he said had declined to play on his 1970 album *Gula Matari*.
Allen was a lifelong Hendrix fan who began playing guitar as a teenager and later collected the musician’s memorabilia. He lent the Hendrix estate $6 million in 1993 to help with a legal battle over the singer’s back catalogue, and founded Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture in 2000, where the collection could be seen by the public. Allen died in 2018 with a reported fortune of nearly $20 billion.
In short
- Quincy Jones compared Paul Allen’s playing to Jimi Hendrix’s.
- Jones said Hendrix had backed out of playing on *Gula Matari*.
- Allen collected Hendrix memorabilia and helped the estate financially.
Explained simply
Quincy Jones was a producer, composer and arranger whose work spanned jazz, film and popular music. Jimi Hendrix was a hugely influential guitarist and singer, while Paul Allen made his fortune as a co-founder of Microsoft and was also a keen musician.
Jones had reportedly been frustrated when Hendrix declined to play on his 1970 album Gula Matari. Allen, by contrast, admired Hendrix, played guitar and collected items connected to him; he also helped fund a legal fight over Hendrix’s music and founded Seattle’s Museum of Pop Culture. The comparison matters because it links Jones’s reported irritation with Hendrix to praise for Allen, whose wealth and cultural projects helped make the musician’s legacy more widely accessible.