QUESTION:

Is there more footage in the Experience Hendrix vaults so that Jimi Plays Berkeley can be properly restored?

ANSWER:

Sadly, none of the remaining outtakes were returned to the Hendrix family following its 1995 legal victory.

While we don't know what outtakes once existed, former Electric Lady Studios engineer John Jansen has confirmed that there were at least portions of some additional songs filmed that had not been used by the original filmmakers. Jansen had tried to re-edit the film at Electric Lady in 1971 so that the songs in the original edit were presented in a more cohesive fashion. However, he left Electric Lady before the project was completed to begin working with the Who in London. As a result, the effort to remake Jimi Plays Berkelee was shelved and the original cut submitted to Michael Jeffery by the filmmakers was issued instead.

The absence of additional Berkeley footage notwithstanding, Experience Hendrix does plan to issue a remastered VHS and DVD edition of the existing film. New digital video procedures, coupled with advances in audio technology should allow us to maximize the technical properties of the original film negative and print.

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