Writing a song is the hardest thing to do, so playing it is like ripping off someone's work. It's like taking somebody's lab work. It's like the patent on something. So if I'm gonna take that, there's something I want to add to it. And in the case of "Bold as Love," it stands as Hendrix's really kind of beautiful, kind of angelic workâand I've always felt like Hendrix got branded the fire breathing, guitar smashing feedback guy, which is a very small part of it, but [he also made] some of the most beautiful chordal harmonic work anybody has ever written. And I felt like if there's ever anything I'm gonna do with the popularity I have, I might as well get history right.
Source