Late Life Interview With Jefferson Airplane's Paul Kantner

Jefferson Airplane in its 1967 hey-day (left to right): Jack Casady,

Jorma Kaukonen, Grace Slick, Marty Balin (window), the late Spencer

Dryden and the late Paul Kantner. (Photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Jorma Kaukonen, Jack Casady: On Jefferson Airplane, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick

Jim Clash, Forbes Magazine

With the sudden passing last week of two founding members of Jefferson Airplane – guitarist Paul Kantner and original female singer Signe Toly Anderson – one is reminded how quickly amazing people can disappear. Both were 74 years old and died of natural causes, coincidentally on the same day.

Earlier, we published Jorma Kaukonen’s heartfelt “Cracks In The Finish” blog entries mourning the loss of his two ex-band mates.

Last fall, we had Kaukonen and Jack Casady on stage at The Explorers Club for a live interview. Many things were discussed in that hour and a half, but the following edited excerpts seem particularly relevant today. They touch on the love and respect that existed – and exists – between Airplane band members for all the decades since the bitter break-up into Starship and Hot Tuna.

Jim Clash: Do you, Paul, Grace and the gang keep in touch?

Jorma Kaukonen: I had dinner with Paul last year, Japanese – even paid for it! And I talk to Grace all the time. I see her [and Paul's] daughter, China, from time to time. Grace was one of the great voices of our time. I respect the fact she’s chosen to be a painter rather than a singer. She had this huge talent, but it didn’t consume her the way it did me and Jack. To me the magic of Jefferson Airplane, outside of great songs, was the exciting interplay between the people and what was going on at the time. Even if Grace were still singing, I don’t think we could ever recreate that. We tried [at the Airplane reunion] in ’89, and it didn’t work.

Jack Casady: After the split, we were working on our Hot Tuna records, they on the Starship. But we were all kind of incestuous. I’d play on Paul’s solo album, Jorma on Grace’s album. It just seemed too cumbersome to get back together as the Airplane because we were young, finding our directions and it just took its inevitable course. But I see Grace from time to time now. She’s in Los Angeles. I brought the Diana bass I just built, a tribute to my late wife, to show her at her place in Malibu recently. We had a great afternoon, got a chance to talk about some things we never really asked each other. And she asked me a question that really made me tear up and cry right on the spot: “I never really understood, Jack – why DID we break up?” It was a fascinating discussion.

Hot Tuna Bassist Jack Casady (center) and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen
(right) interview with Jim Clash at The Explorers Club in November
2015. They discssed all things music, including their ex-band mates from Jefferson Airplane, (Photo: Elliot Severn)

Clash: What was her take?

Casady: It’s interesting because as with any couple or relationship, stress happens. And you perceive things in a certain way under duress, which could be a complete fabrication in your own mind of the reality at the time. She expressed to me how tough it was in a male world of rock and roll to be that woman who was going to break the path for other women behind her. That takes its toll. It took its toll with Grace to the point she couldn’t see herself playing in a rock band at a later age with all the pressure she put on herself. I’m not sure what’s real and what’s not real. But how she perceived it was real to her. And she just backed away, found another artistic outlet in painting. And that’s okay. When I see her, I don’t try to talk her into playing, which is one reason we get along. I don’t say, “Let’s get the band together!” [laughs].

Clash: Jorma, you’re smiling?

Kaukonen: I say this half in jest: The Airplane had band meetings all the time. Anybody who plays music knows that the worst thing about the business is band meetings. Jack and I have never had a Hot Tuna band meeting ever [laughs]. There was a student at Fur Peace Ranch recently taking a bass class from Jack on Jefferson Airplane songs. He says to me: “Wow, those songs are really hard. I can’t believe how much you guys practiced.” I said, “Well yeah. We practiced relentlessly, eight hours a day.” That’s all we did, so we spent a lot of time together. If you finish a long jam and can still have a sense of humor, who are you going to try jokes on except the people you’re around all the time? I don’t remember what the joke was, but poor Marty [Balin] suddenly went berserk, threw his food down and started to scream, “Same jokes, year after year!”

(Editor’s Note: For Part I featuring Kaukonen’s blog entries, seehttp://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2016/02/01/jefferson-airplane-rest-in-peace-paul-kantner-signe-toly-anderson)