| Label: | Dagger Records, Experience Hendrix, Legacy, PPX, RSVP, Sony Music |
| Past Members: | Hank Anderson Marion Booker Jr. Ed Dantes Nate Edmonds Ace Hall Henry Henderson Jimi Hendrix Curtis McNear Ray Lucas Lonnie Youngblood Ditto Edwards |
Curtis Knight and the Squires were a New York band that was fronted by singer and guitarist Curtis Knight in the mid-1960s. Both Jimi Hendrix and sax player Lonnie Youngblood were members for a while.
The band is referred to as a workaday party R&B band by Billboard.[1] The line up of the group wasn't always with the same musicians. Sax player Lonnie Youngblood had been a member.[2] The line up pictured on the cover of the album features Curtis Knight, Jimi Hendrix, Marion Booker and Ace Hall.[3] [4]
At some stage in 1964,[5] Hendrix met Knight in the lobby of a Harlem residential hotel and they hit it off. Hendrix became a member of the band Curtis Knight and the Squires in October the following year.[6] While with the band, Hendrix signed a contract with the owner of PPX Studios, Ed Chaplin for just one dollar. This would later cause major problems for Hendrix.[7] He finally left The Squires on May 20, 1966.[8]
In September 1966, "Hornet's Nest" bw "Knock Yourself Out" were released on the RSVP label, RSVP 1124. Hendrix co-composed them with Jerry Simon.[9] [10] The two songs on the single are the representative of Hendrix's first compositions to be on a recorded release.[11]
In 2000, the UK label Jungle records released the album Jimi Hendrix with Curtis Knight & The Squires – Knock Yourself Out: The 1965 Studio Sessions which in addition to the 10 studio tracks included 5 bonus live tracks.[12]
In 2015, the album You Can't Use My Name: The RSVP/PPX Sessions was released. It featured recordings Hendrix made with the group around 1965.[13] The album features "Hornets Nest", "No Such Animal", and "Knock Yourself Out". It also features a song called "How Would You Feel", which has a strong resemblance to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone".[14] Allmusic's review of the album by Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes Knight "rewriting Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" as a black rock protest song called "How Would You Feel" "
| Title | Release info | Year | F | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knock Yourself Out' The 1965 Studio Sessions | Jungle Records FREUD CD 066 | 2000 | CD | UK release[17] |
| Experience Hendrix, Sony Music, Legacy 88875077992 | 2015 | CD | [18] | |