E7♯9

Introduction: A Sonority by Many Names Few four- or five-note pitch collections have accumulated as much mythology as the dominant seventh sharp ninth chord — the so-called “Hendrix chord.” Voiced E–G♯–D–G in the verse of Purple Haze (Track 1, Side 1, Are You Experienced, May 1967), the sonority has functioned, over six decades, as shorthand…