I remember when Hendrix hit the scene in the US big time. I was probably seventeen and hitting night clubs with bands - there were ways to get in- drinking age in New York was 18. We used to "dance" to songs like "Purple Haze" and "Foxy Lady". Hendrix had a vibe that was very cool and exciting. A lot of bands started playing his songs as soon as possible. He definitely was the right guy at the right time - but being the "right guy" is way difficult to explain and complicated.
Hendrix had connections with the right people, was respected by major muscians who would go to his shows and watch what he was doing. He had, of course, assimulated stylistic attributes from people like Buddy Guy and others, but he had his own very heavy dose of "talent", for which there is no substitute. He was also charismatic. A lot of people liked him and this made it easier to learn and draw people into his ideas. He wasn't some kind of student and didn't take some academic or highly structured approach to his development of skills. Vibes flowed thru and from him. He was a psychedelic personality. He could feel his music and feel where he wanted to go, and when he assembled the trio "The Experience" he was able to put what he had in his head across the stage. It was a symbiotic relationship - the whole was way greater than the sum. The tone of things, the songs, the vibe was unique to the interaction of the band. Hendrix had found his "place", special place, with The Experience. This is where he felt that he could get the ideas in his head right. That unique combination of musicians enabled him to actualize the ideas he wanted to express on stage and in records.
There is no simple explanation. The dude was tuned in to his environment, got "experienced", and was able to assimulate the vibes and combine them with his own vibes and create some awesome music - with the help of a lot of people, including The Experience, the engineers, producers, his muscian friends outside the band that he drew upon, his personal charisma that helped make things happen, and his monumental talent and ability to conceptualize his ideas, develop and innovate the music, write lyrics that resonated with the vibes of the times, and play the guitar with rythyms, leads, and incomprehensiblity that really turned people on and soaked into their heads as if they were dry sponges. This happened to a LOT of people. People knew that Hendrix was revolutionary to music, there was no question about that. This was unlike anything else and was exciting and very rewarding to listen to and dance to.
Some people didn't care for him, missed the boat, etc. But there were and still are people that lived during that time and didn't like the Beatles - how this could be is incomprehensible to me. It's like generation denial or something.
So in addition to all of his talent, influences, charisma, connections, muscian friends, and psychedelic influences, Hendrix had something else in his vibe that goes way beyond environment and heredity - a type of soul or spirit that permeated his existence and provided him with that something special that led to his unanticipated success and hugely unique accomplishments.`
If you would walk around Greenich Village back then you would see incredible uniqueness and all kinds of colorful hippies. The Fillmore East was, among other places, a cauldron of productivity and super great shows by other incredible acts, some backed by the awesome "Joshua Light Show", which was itself a super psychedelic presentation that locked up with the vibes of the music and got deep into the groove, accentuating the entire effect of the shows. Hendrix jammed there all the time with all kinds of musicians.
It was a time of super psychedelic vibes and Hendrix captured and emanated those vibes in a way that really fit in and turned people on, filling a void maybe, with his new and revolutionary style.
There was also a great number of other awesome musical acts at and around that time that were totally mind blowing; like Jefferson Airplane, Jethro Tull, the Beatles, Stones, Animals, Led Zepellin, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby Stills and Nash, Santana, Elton John, Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding company, The Allman Brothers, etc.
Hendrix lived in a time zone filled with incredible muscians and was immersed in a cultural revolution of unprecedented characteristics.
There may well have been genius in his ability to conceptualize and actualize his musical ideas, changing the landscape of music, inspiring people like SRV, and those to come.