Band Of Gypsys - Stepping Stone (1969)

In late 1969, bassist Billy Cox and drummer Buddy Miles agreed to help Jimi make a new album in order to settle an old contract dispute with PPX Industries, with whom Jimi had signed a contract in 1965 giving him only a 1% royalty rate. PPX had come after him with a vengeance after he became famous, and a settlement was finally reached where Jimi would give them a new album to be distributed by Capitol Records in the US. Recording started in October 1969 at an old run down rehearsal space called Juggy Sound, before moving into The Record Plant in November, where they made considerable progress on a new studio album. In December, they decided that the quickest way to honour their obligation was to record their New Years gigs at the Fillmore and give a live album to PPX. This meant that they could save the studio recordings for an album later in 1970, but in January Jimi's manager suddenly fired the band in order to reunite the original Jimi Hendrix Experience.  By that point they'd recorded enough material for a studio album, and so with a view to releasing a new Experience record, Mitchell overdubbed his own drums over Buddy's tracks, although luckily the original tapes with Miles on drums were saved. 
Some of these songs have since turned up on albums such as 'Cry Of Love' and 'Rainbow Bridge', but 'Bleeding Heart' actually comes from an informal jam session held by the trio back on May 21st, 1969, before they ever officially formed a band. 'Stepping Stone'/'Izabella' was released as a single briefly in April 1970, before being recalled for reasons unclear, and although it took some doing, I did manage to track down the original 7" Band Of Gypsys versions of these two songs. 'Hey Gypsy Boy' is an early version of 'Hey Baby (New Rising Sun)', and the album ends with 'Hear My Train A Comin'', which is another song from that May 21st jam session. 
This album was a stepping stone between the break-up of the original Experience and Mitchell's return to the fold a year or so later, and so I think that's an apt title. 

Track listing

01 Ezy Ryder  
02 Power Of Soul
03 Bleeding Heart 
04 Izabella  
05 Room Full Of Mirrors  
06 Stepping Stone 
07 Message To Love
08 Hey Gypsy Boy 
09 Earth Blues 
10 Hear My Train A Comin'  

From The Album Fixer October 2015.