Nigel Kennedy began stirring up the WAM scene quite early, reminding us of the importance of maintaining the creative vibe of live musicking, irrespective of genre. But now that he is no longer an enfant terrible, his tastes are heartfelt and refreshing, for all the hype.

In the absence of Hendrix and Bach themselves, here are a couple of clips.

A homage to Jimi from 2016:

And Bach at the Proms in 2011:

I’m never crazy about the violin in jazz or rock, but however one feels about the results, it’s really great that he does this kind of thing.

Source.

My Bach series includes a sampling of world-music versions; and among many posts on fiddle playing around the world (rounded up here) is Jazz fiddling—also part of my extensive jazz series. Pursuing Kennedy’s Polish connection, see Polish jazz, then and now, Folk traditions of Poland, and under Resisting fakelore.