Jimi Hendrix, Hear My Train A Comin' (2013)

           There's a cottage industry of books and films about Jimi Hendrix (1942–1970). This PBS movie claims to be "the definitive documentary" about "the greatest guitarist of all time." Hendrix had two personas. On stage he was flamboyant and supremely confident, playing his upside down guitar left handed, behind his neck, with his teeth, on his elbow, etc. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and many others played the Ed Sullivan show, but never Hendrix; he was too much. Hendrix the virtuoso is the focus of this film. The movie incorporates archival footage of concerts, and interviews those who knew or worked with him — family, friends, music historians and journalists, recording engineers and producers, publicists, radio DJs, and concert promoters. The private Hendrix was deeply insecure and painfully shy. We don't learn much about this side of him — the heavy drug use, the murky circumstances of his death, the many women, his two children, and the long legal mess after his death. If you grew up during the Hendrix years, this trip down memory lane will give you goose bumps.