A Lost Hendrix Riff Meets a Hard-Driving Groove
THREE MUSICIANS. ONE KILLER GROOVE. Orianthi, Cindy Blackman Santana and Rhonda Smith take a previously unheard Jimi Hendrix guitar idea and make it their own.
Some songs need a little time to get moving. “Taxi” isn’t one of them. Rhonda Smith comes out swinging with a killer bass line, brisk without getting frantic, and Cindy Blackman Santana settles right into a driving beat. Then Orianthi brings in the electric guitar, and suddenly this thing is rolling. The Power of 3 wastes no time getting down to business.
It’s hard-driving blues-rock, but there’s a little alternative-rock edge in there too, and a groove that keeps pulling you along. What grabbed me almost immediately was how clearly you can hear each instrument. Smith’s bass isn’t buried, Blackman Santana’s drums have real punch, and Orianthi’s guitar has room to breathe. All three are pushing, but nobody is getting in anybody else’s way. That’s how a power trio ought to sound.
And when Orianthi lets loose on the guitar solo, forget about it. It’s a badass piece of playing, full of character without turning into a contest to see how many notes can fit into a few bars. The riffs have that little bit of Hendrix in their DNA, but they also took me somewhere of their own. I found myself getting pulled right into the guitar work.
The vocals are worth mentioning, too. Orianthi handles the lead, and the layered vocal sound has a crispness and clarity that I really like. Against a rhythm section this forceful, the singing could easily get swallowed up.It doesn’t. The voices stay out front without losing the feel of the band behind them. Lyrically, “Taxi” taps into the business and restlessness of life: questions we’re always chasing, places we’re always trying to reach, and that sense that everybody is on the move toward something else. It fits the music. This song never feels like it’s standing still.
The Power of 3: Rhonda Smith, Orianthi and Cindy Blackman Santana. Photo: Jim Louvau.
Of course, there’s another reason to pay attention to “Taxi.” The song is built around a previously unreleased guitar riff from Jimi Hendrix. Through their relationship with the Hendrix estate, Orianthi and producer Eddie Kramer gained access to the archives, where Orianthi came across the recording. She recreated Hendrix’s riff on guitar, brought it to Blackman Santana and Smith, and the three built an entirely new song around it.
That’s an important distinction. You’re not hearing a Hendrix performance dropped into a modern recording. You’re hearing his musical idea reimagined by three accomplished players who clearly understand where it came from, but aren’t afraid to take it somewhere new.
Kramer’s involvement makes the story even more interesting. He worked with Hendrix himself, and heknows a thing or two about capturing a band with real electricity. The production on “Taxi” is pretty damn good: crisp, clear and powerful without polishing away the personality. Considering that the forthcoming album was recorded entirely in analogue, that sense of space and separation feels especially fitting.
The group traces its beginnings to an idea for a Band of Gypsys-inspired power trio. On paper, the lineup already looks formidable. Orianthi has worked with Alice Cooper and Michael Jackson. Blackman Santana’s resume stretches from Lenny Kravitz to Carlos Santana and the jazz world. Smith has spent years playing with Prince and Jeff Beck. But “Taxi” works because they sound like a band, not three famous musicians taking turns in the spotlight.
Their self-titled debut album, produced by Kramer, arrives January 29, 2027, through She2Music. Carlos Santana is among its guests, and I look forward to hearing what else these three have put together. The Hendrix connection will get people curious about “Taxi,” and understandably so. But it’s the rhythm, the strong vocal delivery and that guitar playing that make it worth sticking around. The Power of 3 really gets it. You can hear the bass, the guitar and the drums doing their own jobs while driving the same song forward. And those riffs? They’ll take you for a ride.
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By Chad Cubberly
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