THE MOJO INTERVIEW

The Jefferson Airplane’s psychedelic stalwart went from blues to rock to smack and back but never lost his sense of humour. Now 80, he’s determined to pass on all he has preserved. “It’s about telling stories,” says Jorma Kaukonen.

Interview by MICHAEL SIMMONS

“AM I A HIPPY?” PONDERS JORMA Kaukonen, one-time guitar kingpin of Haight-Ashbury poster children the Jefferson Airplane: along with their Grateful Dead pals, the hippy-est of hippy bands. “The answer’s no, I don’t think I was.” Kaukonen turned 80 last December and is counterintuitively more loquacious than he was at 30. “I’ve never been a communal person,” he continues. “The Airplane made money, we bought cars, houses. That being said, if there’s a freedom of spirit to generic hippy consciousness, then we shared that spirit.” It’s nearly 55 years since Kaukonen helped define the San Francisco sound and its psychedelic milieu on 1967’s Surrealistic Pillow, Jefferson Airplane’s stratospheric second album. That record’s Top 10 hits – Somebody To Love and White Rabbit – both featured Kaukonen’s piercing, snaking lead guitar, additions to…

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MOJO (Digital) - 1 Issue, December 2021

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