LEFT: Jack Casady thunders out the groove onstage with his signature Epiphone hollowbody bass. RIGHT: Jorma Kaukonen onstage with an LP-295 goldtop
Les Paul outfitted with a Bigsby vibrato and a flower-motif pickguard.
“Jack and I have never had a
band meeting—how about
that?” says Jorma Kaukonen of
his decades-long partnership with
bassist Jack Casady in the legendary
rock bands Jefferson Airplane
and, later, Hot Tuna. “We’ve
never had to do anything but
concentrate on the music.” In fact,
the title of Hot Tuna’s new album,
Steady As She Goes—their first studio
record in 20 years—is a nautical
tip of the cap to Kaukonen
and Casady’s long relationship.
Just how long is “long”?
Kaukonen, who recently
turned 70, says, “We’ve been
playing together for 53 years
now. We grew up together in
Washington, D.C.”
Over that time, both have
become giants in the music
business. As player of an instrument
that’s often valued for how
well it disappears into a song’s
underground, Casady is virtually
unparalleled—and yet he has one
of the most truly unique electric-bass
voices in rock. Like any
good bassist, he can melt into a
supportive role. But when opportunity
knocks, he bursts forth
with creative lines—both simple
and ornate—that are unlike any
you’ve heard. (Few bass lines
are more recognizable than his
ominous, exotic-sounding intro
to Jefferson Airplane’s psychedelic
anthem “White Rabbit.”)
Kaukonen and Casady onstage, the former with his Les Paul and the latter with his Epiphone signature hollowbody
bass.
Photo by Barry Berenson |
But Casady also has an
important place in the development
of the electric bass itself.
Like most players of his era, he
began on a solidbody Fender (he
played a Jazz bass on
Surrealistic
Pillow), but found himself
longing for an instrument with
more dynamic response. And
along with the Grateful Dead’s
Phil Lesh and others in the
San Francisco scene, Casady
became a test pilot for the revolutionary
work being done by
Alembic. Electronics whiz Ron
Wickersham and woodworker
extraordinaire Rick Turner
first heavily modified Casady’s
hollowbody Guild Starfire basses
(check out 1970’s
Woodstock
film) with low-impedance pickups
and preamps. But before
long, Casady moved over to what
is arguably the first boutique bass
ever—an Alembic with the serial
number 72-01.
As for Kaukonen, though he
and Casady are best known for
high-volume psychedelic rock,
his roots run deep in acoustic
blues and gospel music. When
he came on the scene, he was
an avid fingerstyle player in
a world of rockers launching
into inner-space on solidbody
electrics. But Kaukonen chose a
Gibson ES-345 throughout the
Airplane’s ride from the ’60s San
Francisco scene into the Top 40.
While the Airplane eventually
mutated into other lineups,
Kaukonen and Casady formed
Hot Tuna and continued exploring
the possibilities of blues, rock,
and improvisation. In 1996,
Casady, Kaukonen, and the rest
of the Airplane were inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame, but the dynamic guitar-and-bass duo is clearly far from
done. And for the
Steady As She
Goes release, the band headed to
the Barn—a studio in Woodstock,
New York, that’s owned by Levon
Helm (drummer/vocalist for the
Band)—and put producer Larry
Campbell at the controls.
We talked and listened as both
of these icons in spoke in depth
about their respective crafts, songwriting,
collaborating, and the
gear that helps them create their
eclectic, singular rock sound. We
begin first with our Kaukonen
Q&A, followed by our interview
with Casady later in this article.