I'm almost certain that Hendrix will have seen Gallagher live either in a club in London or at a festival somewhere (pretty sure Taste played the IoW in 1970, also pretty sure Hendrix wouldn't have been sat around watching their set).Incidentally Hendrix died in 1970 so I find it hard to imagine he rated this (below), one album by Taste, the sum total of stuff Gallagher had released in the US by 1970, as better than Hendrix's own lifetime output. There may be a banger in here, but . . . really?
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I have some doubts that he ever actually said that line about Gallagher being the best guitarist in the world.
I have no doubt at all that if he did say it he didn't mean it literally.