Hot Tuna - 2004

It's been nearly thirty-five years since the bi-product of Jefferson Airplane, i.e., Hot Tuna signed with RCA Records.  Several years of other noted bands and separation, (SVT and solo efforts during Jorma's punk rock stage) would occur but the antiquity of Jack Casady & Jorma Kaukonen are as legendary as any two musicians of The Woodstock Generation.  Years as "electric" Hot Tuna have been scraped (sans the work of noted keyboardist Pete Sears, drummer Harvey Sorgen and guitarist/signer, Michael Falzarano.  The addition of a mandolin has added a unique, bluegrass edge to Hot Tuna, 2004 but hasn't altered the impact of Jorma & Jack with celebrated tunes like Hesitation Blues, Candy Man, I See The Light and the ever popular Good Shepard.They are aging icons, a link to the glory days of the musical  revolution but they also  continue to expand the parameters of contemporary blues.  As an active tandem,  with tours that are inclusive of San Francisco Blues Festival, Telluride, and noted venues such as

Image By Don Aters

The Fillmore Auditorium, House of Blues in Chicago, L.A. and other cities and old haunts like Sweetwater in Marin County and The Mystic in Petaluma, California, these legendary musicians are as charismatic, gifted and innovative as any neoteric band on the horizon. The best barometer in terms of music can only measure their impact, and that is time.  Jorma is and has been, one of the most diverse and gifted musicians/songwriters in the annals of music and Jack is one of the most emulated bass players of all time with a stage presence rarely matched.  As members of Hall Of Fame band Jefferson Airplane, their niche in music immortality has been duly noted but I think the time for Hot Tuna to also ascend the echelons of those hallowed halls has arrived.

Jorma is a healthy 63 as of December, 2003 and Jack will reach the magical decade of sixty in April.  These are icons of the most heralded decade in music history, 1965-1975 and are not living on past glory and notoriety, but continue to search for the perfect performance.  In an era where banality has replaced lyrics of content and volume has replaced acquired skill, these are the harbingers of what great music has come to represent, the healing solvent that unites the masses through the gifts of great musicians and subsequent tunes.   

May they play for the next 100 years and continue to rock in peace.  It would be difficult to think of a genre that no longer has these two icons of the day still on that long and lonesome touring road.........it is a void that could never be filled.  They remain a gripping, heart warming act that eases the pains of daily life and broaden the smiles to those who know the power of their music. The journey that  began so long ago from 2400 Fulton Street is nearing major cities across the land. As Lennon was to McCartney, Simon to Garfunkel, Don to Phil Everly, Jagger to Richards... Jorma is to Jack......that's as good as it gets, there will be no others to claim their rightful place in the echelons of rock n' roll royalty.  For Medina, Ohio, NYC, and other stops on the way, off your ass and on your feet, Hot Tuna is on the way......

Image By Don Aters

As always

Peace

Don Aters - Editor

Haight Street Music News