Jefferson Airplane is, to many listeners, the definiative example of the "San Francisco sound"
from the 1960's.
Originally formed by Marty Balin as an act to fill a Haight-Ashbury club he was
planning, Jefferson Airplane became a full time project for the self-proclaimed leader of the band.
Balin assembled Jorma Kaukonen, Paul Kantner, Signe Anderson, Jack Casady and Skip Spence.
The fledgling group performed songs written by Balin and got a record deal with RCA, who released
their first album Takes Off to a lukewarm market.
The Airplane's landmark album, however, came a year later. Anderson and Spence left to pursue
other interests. After finding a replacement drummer, Spencer Dryden, the band asked Grace Slick,
formerly of The Great Society to join. Suddenly the band had two tremendous voices which
they utilized well in the crafting of Surrealistic Pillow. This featured two singles Somebody to
Love and White Rabbit, chart toppers that get heavy radio play even today (and are thus the band's
most recognized songs).
Continuing to experiment with their sound, the Airplane released a string of albums that were
hit-or-miss with fans and critics. Their lineup changed frequently (see the list of members below).
While the band had cemented their following in the folk and psychedelic rock circles, they
gained a new level of recognition and infamy in the winter of 1969 when Jefferson Airplane shared
the bill at Altamont with the Rolling Stones. Following this festival tragedy, most of the band
fractured to work on side projects. The remaining members continued on to release Bark and
Long John Silver, two well-received albums (both went gold).
The group re-"formed" in 1974 with original founder Balin to create Jefferson Starship. This
"continuation" of Jefferson Airplane was almost an entirely different entity as the band moved from folk
psychedelia toward rock and pop of the late 70's and itself mutated into Starship in the
1980's.
Balin, Kantner, Kaukonen, Casady, and Slick reunited under the name Jefferson Airplane in 1989 for a
tour and album.
Members:
- Marty Balin (1965-1971) (lead vocals, songwriting)
- Signe Anderson (1965-1966) (vocals)
- Jack Casady (1965-1973) (bass guitar)
- Paul Kantner (1965-1973) (guitar, vocals)
- Jorma Kaukonen (1965-1973) (guitar, vocals)
- Skip Spence (1965-1966) (percussion)
- Spencer Dryden (1966-1970) (percussion)
- Grace Slick (1966-1973) (lead vocals, songwriting)
- Joey Covington (1970-1971) (percussion)
- Papa John Creach (1970-1973) (violin)
- John Barbata (1971-1973) (percussion)
- David Freiberg (1973) (lead vocals)
Discography:
Derivative Bands:
(Groups consisting of people who passed through the Airplane at one point or another on their career, and for the most part have related sounds)
- Hot Tuna (originally Hot Shit)- Casady and Kaukonen's "other" project mostly performed with a scaled-down band that combined
the Airplane's folky sound with blues rock
- Jefferson Starship - The evolution of the Jefferson Airplane lineup in the 70's with the implication of a bigger and more groundbreaking sound
- Starship - Jefferson Starship's later incarnation
- Moby Grape - Spence's later group
- Grootna - unremarkable project led by Balin
- KBC Band - a lineup of Kantner, Balin, and Casady in the late 80's
References:
All Music Guide (http://www.allmusic.com)
CDNow (http://www.cdnow.com)
IMDB (http://us.imdb.com)
http://www.warr.org/jefferson.html
Album jackets and liner notes