It was recorded on January 1, 1970, at the Fillmore East in New York City with R&B musicians Billy Cox on bass and Buddy Miles on drums, a grouping frequently referred to as the Band of Gypsys.

The anti-riot and anti-war "Machine Gun" draws on Hendrix's earlier blues aspirations, but incorporates new approaches to guitar improvisation and tonal effects.

He was also required to produce an album's worth of new material for Capitol Records in order to satisfy a contract dispute with former manager Ed Chalpin and PPX Enterprises.

By the middle of the year, he had not completed any promising material and Reprise Records resorted to issuing his April 1968 UK compilation album, Smash Hits, with some new tracks for the North American market.

[11] The next day, after a potentially life-threatening riot following a concert in Denver, Colorado, Redding left the group to return to London and the Jimi Hendrix Experience came to an end.

[12] In addition to original Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell, he worked with bassist Billy Cox and second guitarist Larry Lee, as well as percussionists Juma Sultan and Gerardo "Jerry" Velez.

[a] After a couple more appearances, including a September 8 episode of the late night American television The Dick Cavett Show without Lee and Velez, the ensemble disbanded.

[24] In an interview, Hendrix explained, "We spent 12 to 18 hours a day practicing this whole last week, straight ahead, and then we went into a funky little club and jammed down there to test it out".

[28] Hendrix contributed new material as well, including "Power of Soul",[b] "Ezy Ryder", "Earth Blues", "Burning Desire", and the riff for the jam song "Who Knows".

[34] However, his often described "fatback grooves" laid down a solid rhythmic foundation[35] and the combination of Cox and Miles added a "heavy, rolling fluidity which brings out a very different dimension in Hendrix's playing".

Built on Hendrix's guitar figure, "Who Knows" is framed by Cox's economical funk-blues bass line and Miles' steady drum beat, which Murray describes as "a thick, lazy twitch".

[37] These included a Uni-Vibe phase shifter, an Octavia (developed for him by Roger Mayer during the recording of his first album), a Fuzz Face distortion box, and a wah-wah pedal.

[c] While McDermott feels that the jam is underdeveloped and biographer Harry Shapiro criticizes Miles' vocals,[42][43] Shadwick and writer David Henderson focus on the "easy groove" and "lilting flow".

[44] The song features Miles attempting to engage the audience in a call and response "testifying" soul music-style vocal section, which was mostly edited out for the album release.

[28][29] According to Shapiro, the lyrics reflect "a Jimi Hendrix who felt an increasing need to impart his compassionate vision of human potentiality [and a] move away from cynicism and bitterness".

[48] (Nearly all of Hendrix's music, and contemporary rock in general, uses common or 44 time; "Manic Depression" (34 or 98), "Dolly Dagger" (54), "Stepping Stone" (88), and the slow blues "Red House" and "Belly Button Window" (both 128) are among the exceptions.

[28] Although based on a "minor drone-blues" in the line of "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)", Hendrix's performance has been compared to jazz saxophonist John Coltrane's approach to improvisation.

[35] McDermott notes, "Hendrix called out tunes to Miles and Cox and would often make time and tempo changes on the fly, alerting his partners with a simple head nod or raising of his guitar neck".

Based on interviews with Cox and Miles, concert reviews, and film footage, McDermott and Shadwick conclude that Hendrix was less animated during the third and fourth shows, when he stood mostly in place until the final encores, seemingly concentrating on recording.

[28] However, according to McDermott, Hendrix was determined to deliver the standard of recording performances that would provide an album that would settle the bitter legal dispute with Ed Chalpin.

[70] On January 12, 1970, Hendrix and recording engineer Eddie Kramer began the task of deciding which songs to include on the new album (Cox and Miles did not participate in the process).

[69] It depicted puppets or dolls that resembled Hendrix, Brian Jones, Bob Dylan, and John Peel huddled next to a drab, corrugated backdrop.

[90] Additional studio recordings by the trio in various stages of development were released on South Saturn Delta,[74] The Jimi Hendrix Experience box set,[91] Burning Desire,[92] West Coast Seattle Boy,[93] and People, Hell and Angels.

"[106] The magazine's David Wild was more enthusiastic in a retrospective review and felt that songs such as "Message of Love" and "Machine Gun" still sounded powerful in spite of the unclear recording quality.

[107] Christgau also believed that Hendrix was limited by the straighter, simpler rhythm section, but added that "Who Knows" and "Machine Gun" "are as powerful if not complex as anything he's ever put on record".

[109][110] Later funk-influenced artists Larry Blackmon (singer for Cameo) and Nile Rodgers (guitarist for Chic and record producer) also cite the album's importance and influence.

[113] During the Band of Gypsys rehearsals in November 1969, Hendrix and Miles recorded the backing track for "Doriella Du Fontaine", with Lightnin' Rod (later known as Jalal Mansur Nuriddin) of the Last Poets.

[115] In 1990, the alternative hip hop group Digital Underground extensively sampled "Who Knows", the opening song from Band of Gypsys, for "The Way We Swing" on the Sex Packets album.

[72] In 2018, the original Capitol Band of Gypsys album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which "honor[s] recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance".

[116] On June 23, 2019, the Band of Gypsys were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African-American History in Detroit, Michigan.