bluesy course
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10014/1027901-388.stm
January 14, 2010
By Scott Mervis
Jorma Kaukonen, whose primary musical passion has always been
Piedmont blues, spent just enough time in a rock 'n' roll band to
have a blast, become a legend and get himself inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame.
Since departing Jefferson Airplane in 1972, after a wild seven-year
run, he's been pursuing his blues roots with old friend Jack Casady
in the vaunted Hot Tuna and through a productive solo career. His
latest tour, which stops at the New Hazlett Theater on Tuesday, finds
him paired with fellow folk-blues titan David Bromberg.
"We both started out playing blues, either roots or country, and
bluegrass, or whatnot," says the 69-year-old Kaukonen. "David, over
the years, has gone to a lot of other places besides that. But I
guess when you get right down to the basics, we both just started out
loving the guitar."
The two guitarists, both disciples of the Rev. Gary Davis school, met
in the early '80s and played some gigs together both solo and with
Hot Tuna. Bromberg put his guitar down for about 15 years starting in
the early '90s to concentrate on making violins in Wilmington, Del.
Four years ago, Bromberg's wife's trio, The Angel Band, played at the
Fur Peace Ranch, Kaukonen's 125-acre guitar camp near Athens, Ohio,
and the two guitarists decided to trade off gigs, with Bromberg
playing Fur Peace and Kaukonen playing the Opera House in Wilmington.
From there, they decided to tour together, each playing a solo set
(Kaukonen with mandolinist Barry Mitterhoff) and then jamming
together at the end.
"In the past, when we did shows together, we agreed on 'no
rehearsing,' and so we really just drew on things from our well --
you know, the original well," Kaukonen says. "But he's got so much
great stuff of his own, if there are things he'd like to do with me
accompanying him, I'm going to take some time to learn that, and I
hope the same of him."
Kaukonen's well goes just a little deeper, starting with playing in
Bay Area coffeehouses in the early '60s. Kaukonen moved there from
his native Washington, D.C., in 1962 to attend Santa Clara
University, and a few years later, despite his devotion to
finger-picking blues, he was talked into a rehearsal of the
psychedelic rock band that would become Jefferson Airplane. (It
actually got its name from his blues parody name Blind Thomas
Jefferson Airplane.)
"I was going to school there and was very active in the folk scene,
which became the rock scene. Like Chris Smither said, 'I fell into it
as a kid and never fell out of it.' The folk scene was so exciting,
with so many great players. Garcia was one of them, but there were
lots of guys that no one has heard from since. That music scene in
the Bay Area was just fantastic and when the rock scene started it
just seemed like the logical next step.
"I had huge reservations about it 'cause I was into traditional
music, but, as we know, rock 'n' roll is very seductive. I went from
playing in coffeehouses, trying to be heard over the espresso
machine, to being able to turn my amp up as loud as I wanted. It was
a great thing."
As a member of the Airplane, Kaukonen played on classic hits like
"Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit," while also getting to stretch
out musically on the intricate "Embryonic Journey" and fiery pieces
like "The Last Wall of the Castle." Of course, he also was front and
center at the three landmark festivals of the era -- Monterey,
Woodstock and Altamont -- not to mention all those great acid-rock
pow-wows at the Fillmore.
On the side, Kaukonen and Casady were able to shed the Airplane's pop
trappings and go straight to the blues, electric and acoustic, in the
acclaimed Hot Tuna. Once personal and drug problems grounded the
Airplane in 1972, it became their primary band.
As for whether the Airplane ended at the right time, Kaukonen says,
"Well, that's a great question. Obviously because it did end there, I
think we achieved all we could under those circumstances. When the
Airplane broke up, I think we were all starting to go off in
different directions, and that's just what had to be. The classic
example of people that stuck together, obviously, was the Grateful
Dead. But that's such a rare thing. It's a miracle, really, to be
able to maintain that kind of loyalty and musical focus for that many years."
Kaukonen watched from afar as the Airplane, in a far cry from the
Dead, evolved into mainstream pop act Jefferson Starship and then the
much-maligned Starship (which still exists in some fashion).
"When I quit the band in '72 and it became [Jefferson] Starship, it
didn't really matter to me anymore because I wasn't part of it.
Believe me, I don't begrudge anyone in the musical business success.
You don't get it unless you earn it and they certainly earned it. It
really wasn't my kind of music, but it's always nice to know
someone's successful."
Kaukonen did take part in the JA reunion in 1989, which consisted of
an album release and tour, a brief distraction from his solo and Hot Tuna work.
His latest release is last year's "River of Time," recorded at Levon
Helm's Woodstock studio with Larry Campbell producing and Helm
playing drums on some of the tracks.
"I've known Lee for a long time and he lives in the country, as do I,
so it really had the same country feeling, very laid-back but also
very professional," Kaukonen says.
Along with a handful of originals, "River of Time" finds Kaukonen
working over songs by Rev. Davis, Mississippi John Hurt and Merle
Haggard, along with "Operator," the bluesy Dead song sung by Ron
"Pigpen" McKernan.
"I got involved in this thing up in New York called the American
Beauty Project where we got a lot of musicians to play songs from
that album," Kaukonen says. "That was the song that I picked to play,
and I picked it for two reasons. No. 1, I really liked Pigpen a lot,
but also it's such an odd little song, I thought it would be a
challenge to do, and in the four years I've been playing it, it grew
to the point where it was ready to be recorded."
Kaukonen's next project will likely be back with his longest-running
musical partner, Casady, where the chemistry is so fluid.
"Jack and I have played together 52 years this year," Kaukonen says.
"I think the secret of our longevity is our mutual respect both as
men and as artists. We've been talking about recording for a number
of years, but the recording industry being in this bizarre state of
flux that it is, we just couldn't find a home. But Red House is going
to do a Hot Tuna record, and we are going to record one this year,
and we're very excited about it. The nice thing about me and Jack is
that we never got sick of playing with each other. We don't do it
every day of our life so when we do get together it's always fresh,
even though we do a hundred jobs a year."
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Scott Mervis can be reached at smervis@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2576.
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