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For more than four decades, Hot Tuna has successfully mixed Americana roots music with eclectic variations on blues and rock. Founded by two former Jefferson Airplane members, legendary lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bass virtuoso Jack Casady, Hot Tuna returns to Maui on Sunday for an acoustic show.
“It’s always fun and it’s always fresh and we can’t wait to get to the islands,” says Casady about playing in Hot Tuna. “It’s been my vehicle for so long. Jorma and I started playing together in 1958. I was 14 and he was 17. We have a mutual love of music. I’m proud of the fact that we still love to go out on stage as much as we ever have.”
One of the most innovative, influential bassists in rock ‘n’ roll, Casady helped revolutionize the electric bass. “Like Jack Bruce, James Jamerson, Phil Lesh and Paul McCartney, Casady was a fountainhead of inspiration whose style merged complexity and function,” noted Bass Player magazine.
A fellow virtuoso, Kaukonen is acclaimed as a leading finger-picking acoustic guitar player who was also a pioneering acid-rock electric guitarist in the mid-1960s. A Grammy-nominated artist, he most recently released the solo album “Ain’t in No Hurry.”
Even though they’ve played together for so many years, Casady says they never take anything for granted.
“The reality is, even more so than before, you have to listen harder to each other and be more open. It’s not like you learn a pathway to play together and just repeat it. It’s the complete opposite of that. When we step on stage, we hope to be better listeners and better players together than we ever have before. So it’s always striving for what you haven’t accomplished.”
Friends in high school in Washington, D.C., in the late 1950s, the duo re-teamed in San Francisco after Casady got a call to join a new folk-rock band.
In July 1965, singer Marty Balin, guitarist Paul Kantner and Kaukonen formed the first version of Jefferson Airplane.
“Jorma had gone out there and met a bunch of folk musicians,” Casady recalls. “I had been playing in a lot of R&B bands in Washington, and Jorma said he had just joined a folk-rock group. And I said, ‘What, you the purist?’ He said, ‘We’ve got a manager that promises to pay us $50 a week whether we work or not. Do you want to come out?’ I said, ‘You’re on.’ “
After relocating to California, it was Casady who suggested Grace Slick join the group.
“Grace was with the band called Great Society, and when (singer) Signe Anderson left after the first album, we were looking for a female singer. I thought Grace was the best that I saw in the city. I asked her to come to one of our rehearsals, and she liked it and stayed.”
The Kaukonen/Casady duo created much of the Jefferson Airplane’s signature sound, with Kaukonen’s lead and finger-style guitar playing characterizing some of the band’s most memorable tracks, and Casady’s monumental bass driving them.
The Airplane could be phenomenal in concert and the group’s power was captured on “Bless Its Pointed Little Head,” one of the greatest live albums ever released. And on tracks like “The Other Side of This Life,” Casady’s virtuosity was astonishing.
“I’m very proud of it,” he says about “Bless Its Pointed Little Head.” “It really captured a particular time. It captured an incredible amount of energy and song development that was quite amazing.”
In December, Casady celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert in New York that reunited the Hot Tuna duo with the Airplane’s founding vocalist, Balin, joined by singer Teresa Williams on classics like “White Rabbit.”
“I thought it would be great if Marty sang some songs, and Teresa is fantastic,” he says.
Besides years with the Airplane and Hot Tuna, Casady’s playing has also graced recordings by David Crosby, Warren Zevon, Rusted Root and Gov’t Mule. And he played on Jimi Hendrix’s masterpiece “Electric Ladyland.”
“We both played Monterey (Pop Festival) and other venues like the Fillmore,” he explains. “We became friends and we’d hang out and jam. When he was working on what became ‘Electric Ladyland,’ we were in New York, and he invited us back to his studio. He said, Let’s play this blues, ‘Voodoo Child.’ So Steve Winwood and me and Mitch Mitchell and Hendrix played the song. A month later, I got a call and Jimi asked, ‘Would you mind if we put the jam on an album.’ So it became part of the album and in a sense a part of history.”
Releasing the group’s classic debut album in 1970, over the years Hot Tuna’s various recordings have included “Burgers” and “Pair of Dice Found.” In 2011, they released “Steady As She Goes, their first studio album in 20 years. Featuring their signature bluesy folk-rock, a couple of the tracks with Williams on soaring backing vocals were reminiscent of the Airplane.
“We covered a lot of different kinds of territory,” Casady notes. “I was really proud of the album.”
*****
Needless to say, Diana Ross was phenomenal on Sunday night at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center. It was a love fest. Superb 12-piece band, superb sound, perfect voice and perfect video accompaniment. It’s just remarkable how, at 71, this legendary icon has a voice that sounds as compelling and unmarred by time as when she was with the Supremes.
Dazzling her sold-out audience with numerous glamorous costume changes, she thrilled all with hit after hit from “Baby Love” and “Love Child” to the anthemic “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and the rousing “I Will Survive.”
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One of rock’s most distinctive vocalists, Jon Anderson is best known as “The Voice of Yes.” The former lead singer and creative force of the legendary progressive rock band, Anderson has in recent years pursued a successful career as a solo artist.
“I love doing my solo shows,” he says. “I got pretty sick on the last Yes tour, and I thought maybe I should do a solo show. People all over the world enjoy the shows. I was lucky I had so many fans everywhere.”
Presenting a spectrum of his music from Yes favorites to his solo work, Anderson is an engaging storyteller who enjoys sharing tales about his long career and how some of his best-known songs were created.
“I talk about the songs and I tell stories and that’s part of the fun,” he continues.
The legendary musician has an obvious love for our island. He was married on Maui and composed songs for one of his solo albums on an extended visit here. And during his last show at the MACC, he created a tribute song to Maui on the spot.
“It’s a very special part of the world,” he says.
Acclaimed as a revolutionary pioneer of progressive rock, Yes was known for lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, electrifying musicianship, and elaborate album art and staging. Anderson was the primary composer of some of their most ambitious compositions including “Close to the Edge” and “Gates of Delirium.”
“We wanted to do something a bit different,” he says about their unique sound. “We invented ourselves as we went along. I started listening to classical music, Stravinsky and Sibelius, and that’s what inspired me to want to work along those lines. Steve Howe could play Spanish guitar and Rick Wakeman was classically trained, and it all jelled together. Then we made the album ‘Close to the Edge,’ which I think was the best of that period. We created a style of music that was unique.”
After a series of band member changes, it wasn’t until late 1983 that Yes triumphed again with the No. 1 single “Owner of a Lonely Heart,” and the album “90125,” which sold more than 6 million copies.
Anderson left Yes after his respiratory illness forced the band to cancel its 2008 summer tour. He has continued his career releasing solo albums and collaborating with former Yes band mate Wakeman.
Last summer, he announced that he was joining a new band with former Mahavishnu Orchestra violinist Jean-Luc Ponty. The Anderson Ponty Band will release an album this year.
“A breakthrough feeling came as I sang with Jean-Luc’s music,” Anderson says. “To be in a band again is very exciting on many levels.”
* Jon Anderson will perform a “Solo Sessions” show at 7:30 p.m. Friday in the McCoy Studio Theater at the MACC. Tickets are $45 and $65 (plus applicable fees) and are available at the box office, by calling 242-7469 or by visiting www.mauiarts.org.
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Fans of HAPA can now enjoy their “Summer Music Series” at the Maui Tropical Plantation’s Mill House in Waikapu through August. The duo plays Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Doors open at 6 p.m. and show is at 7:30 p.m.
* General admission is $60 for the show only, with $75 VIP premium seating available. An a la carte tapas dinner menu is available separately by chef Jeff Scheer. Call 244-7643 for more information.