Web posted on: Tuesday, June 23, 1998 4:50:14 PM

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Jimi Hendrix, whose innovative combinations of distortion and fuzz on the electric guitar helped pioneer the instrument's popularity in the 60s, died nearly 30 years ago. But his genius with the guitar lives on, most recently in the release of "The Jimi Hendrix Experience: The BBC Sessions."

In this latest release, a two-disc collection from his jamming days at England's BBC Radio including 13 previously unreleased tracks, Hendrix is heard performing several favorites, including "Foxey Lady," "Hey Joe," "Hound Dog," and "Day Tripper."

Jimi plays a bit of "Hey Joe" 250k WAV audio file

'A very sensitive man'

Those who attended the sessions back in the psychedelic '60s remember Hendrix fondly.

"I remember being very pleasantly surprised to what I thought he was going to be," former BBC engineer Bernie Andrews says. "He was very gentle and a very sensitive man."

Former BBC engineer Jeff Griffin echoes that praise.

"Even though by that time, he'd received a lot of acclamation, the sort of star thing hadn't really hit him," Griffin says.

The Hendrix legacy

The release of rare Hendrix recordings is now overseen by his half-sister Janie Hendrix and his dad, Al, who had to press litigation to win control of his son's artistic legacy.

Janie says it was a long time coming.

"We did gain 100 percent of the legacy back," she says. "Didn't gain any of the money that was lost during the 20-some years, not to mention that it cost us multi-million dollars to get the legacy back."

Janie remembers her half-brother, the rock star, from his visits to the family home in Seattle. His father recalls an average athlete who surprised him with his musical success.

"When I got his first electric guitar, well, I bought a C melody sax at the time, and him and I used to try to make music together," Al Hendrix says. "Neither one of us knew anything about it.

More in store

The family has plenty more in stock for Hendrix fans: Hundreds of hours of tapes of the guitar legend, jamming at various points in his career, will be released well into the new millennium.

"He was so full of music and all he could do was just play and play to get it all out," Janie says.

And he left plenty of material to ensure the legend would live on.

Correspondent Mark Scheerer contributed to this report.