A 19-year-old Jimi Hendrix during his time in the 101st Airborne Division of the U.S. Army, 1961. In November 1961, fellow serviceman Billy Cox walked past an army club and heard Hendrix playing. Impressed by Hendrix's technique, which Cox described as a combination of "John Lee Hooker and Beethoven", Cox borrowed a bass guitar and the two jammed. Within weeks, they began performing at base clubs on the weekends with other musicians in a loosely organized band, the Casuals. Billy Cox, later was a member of Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys and appeared with him at Woodstock.