Jack Casady

Last updated

Jack Casady
Jack Casady.jpg
Casady playing his signature bass with Hot Tuna in 2005
Background information
Birth nameJohn William Casady
Born (1944-04-13) April 13, 1944 (age 80)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Genres Rock, blues
InstrumentBass guitar
Years active1964–present
Website www.jackcasady.com

John William Casady (born April 13, 1944) is an American bass guitarist, best known as a member of Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Jefferson Airplane became the first successful exponent of the San Francisco Sound. [1] Singles including "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit" charted in 1967 and 1968. Casady, along with the other members of Jefferson Airplane, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

Contents

Early life

Casady was born in Washington D.C., the son of Mary Virginia (née Quimby) and William Robert Casady. His father was of half Irish Protestant and half Polish Jewish ancestry. His mother was a relative of aviator Harriet Quimby; some of her family had been in North America since the 1600s. [2]

First playing as a lead guitarist with the Washington, D.C.-area rhythm and blues band The Triumphs, he switched to bass during his high school years, and while still underage (and with a forged I.D.) played the Washington D.C. club scene, backing artists such as Little Anthony and the Imperials. [3]

Jefferson Airplane years 1965–1972

Jack Casady (Kralingen 1970) JackCasadyKralingen1970.jpg
Jack Casady (Kralingen 1970)

Casady became the bass player for Jefferson Airplane when lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, a high school friend and former Triumphs rhythm guitarist, invited him to join in late September 1965. He replaced the band's original bassist Bob Harvey the following month.

Casady stepped beyond the bass guitar's conventional supporting role in rock & roll, in order to explore melodic ideas suggested by the rhythms and chord progressions. His impact was immediately evident on Airplane's debut album Jefferson Airplane Takes Off (1966), on tracks such as "Let Me In" and "Run Around".

The Takes Off LP quotes Marty Balin as saying "He carries it. He's been with James Brown and other groups and he knows." There is, however, no evidence Casady had ever played with James Brown. The live Airplane album Bless Its Pointed Little Head , recorded in 1968, demonstrates Casady's unique walking line style to the fullest, as his Guild Starfire bass signal went through a Versatone amplifier, which produced a distinctive growling sound when the instrument was played in a high register. The Fred Neil track "The Other Side of This Life" remains a quintessential example of his style. On later Airplane albums, such as Bark , Long John Silver and the live Thirty Seconds Over Winterland , Casady switched over to a $4,000 custom-made Alembic bass (No. 001, the first made by the company). The extraordinarily grand sound Casady produced during his 1968–1971 heyday—nowhere better heard than in his multi-tracked playing on "Sunrise", a song from Paul Kantner's 1970 solo album Blows Against the Empire—inspired fans to assign him the affectionate nickname of "God".[ citation needed ]

Other noteworthy Casady performances on Jefferson Airplane recordings include the Top 10 hit "White Rabbit" (on the album Surrealistic Pillow , 1967), "Rejoyce" and "Watch Her Ride" ( After Bathing at Baxter's , 1967), "Crown of Creation", "If You Feel" and "The House at Pooneil Corners" (Crown of Creation, 1968), "Crazy Miranda" and "War Movie" (Bark, 1971), and the co-written composition "Long John Silver" (Long John Silver, 1972). Several of these tracks are remarkable for their infusions of jazz and raga bass lines into a rock format. For years in live performance with the Airplane, Casady's showcase was the Paul Kantner composition "The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil", which gave the bassist the opportunity to improvize an open-ended solo that was different every night and often astonishing. The Fly Jefferson Airplane DVD includes one such performance videotaped at The Family Dog, where Casady pulls off a solo that visibly impresses fellow band member Grace Slick. He was likewise adept at complementing the musicianship of his fellow players; the live version of "Volunteers" on the Woodstock album is a notable example of cooperating bass and keyboard rhythm with session pianist Nicky Hopkins.

Casady's appetite for playing led him to do extensive moonlighting during his Airplane tenure. Not only did he perform live on stage with Jimi Hendrix during 1968, he also played bass on the Jimi Hendrix song "Voodoo Chile", from the Electric Ladyland album released in the same year (some copies of the album misspell his name as Cassidy). He also occasionally played with other key San Francisco bands Grateful Dead, Country Joe and the Fish and James and the Good Brothers. Furthermore, he was a member of two short-lived splinter groups, Mickey and the Heartbeats (with Jerry Garcia and Mickey Hart) and Jack Casady and the Degenerates, an ensemble that included teenage friend Danny Gatton alongside Kaukonen. Neither of these groups ever recorded, though live tapes are in circulation. Later, Casady was to appear on David Crosby's If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971), Roky Erickson's album Don't Slander Me (1982) and Warren Zevon's Transverse City (1989). He also produced Jorma Kaukonen's first solo album, the critically acclaimed Quah , in 1975.

Hot Tuna

Hot Tuna at Merlefest, 2006. Left to right: Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, and Barry Mitterhoff. Hot Tuna at Merlefest 2006.JPG
Hot Tuna at Merlefest, 2006. Left to right: Jack Casady, Jorma Kaukonen, and Barry Mitterhoff.

Casady and Kaukonen formed Hot Tuna in 1969, and they still perform to the present day. The group has morphed over the years from an acoustic blues unit to an electric boogie band to a rampaging metal act and back again. Casady is equally comfortable accompanying an acoustic Kaukonen ("Mann's Fate", 1970) or electric jamming ("John's Other", 1971). Casady's solo on "Candy Man" (Hot Tuna's First Pull Up, Then Pull Down , 1971) again shows his ability to carry a melody rather than just playing rhythmically and harmonically. Some exquisitely intricate playing is evident on the 1972 album Burgers , particularly the sparkling instrumental track "Water Song", which Casady has described as featuring "lead bass". Another Burgers track, "Sunny Day Strut", has Casady's bass dueling with Kaukonen's lead guitar. When Tuna became a power trio in the mid-1970s, Casady's Guild Flying V custom bass became his trademark. Later works, especially Live in Japan (1997), still testify to his creativity as evidenced by the continually evolving bass solos on "Candy Man", "Good Shepherd" and "99 Year Blues".

SVT and The Yanks

In the late 1970s, Casady and Kaukonen found that they needed some creative time apart, and Hot Tuna disbanded for several years. During this time, Casady helped found a modern rock band, SVT, with Brian Marnell, a promising songwriter and frontman, keyboardist Nick Buck, and drummer Bill Gibson, later replaced by Paul Zahl. Again, Casady's versatility was demonstrated as this band played in a convincing New Wave style, totally removed from Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane.[ according to whom? ] During his SVT tenure, Casady actually taped his fingers together to force himself to simplify his highly articulated playing style. He and Zahl formed an exemplary rhythm section, as evidenced on the LP No Regrets (1981).[ according to whom? ][ citation needed ] After Marnell's death from a drug overdose Casady and Zahl continued the basic SVT sound with guitarist Jack Johnson and singer/songwriter/guitarist Owen Masterson in a band called The Yanks. Also during the 1980s, Casady joined former Airplane members Paul Kantner and Marty Balin in the KBC Band.

Jefferson Starship

Casady in concert with Jefferson Starship in 1996. JackCasady1996.jpg
Casady in concert with Jefferson Starship in 1996.

In 1992, he joined Paul Kantner's recreated Jefferson Starship, and appeared on the albums Deep Space / Virgin Sky and Windows of Heaven. In 2000, Kantner used the name Jefferson Airplane against the terms of his 1985 settlement with Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen, Bill Thompson, and Casady. Casady left Jefferson Starship after this incident. Casady appears with Kantner again on the 2008 Jefferson Starship release, Jefferson's Tree of Liberty from a track previously recorded for the German release of Windows of Heaven . [4]

Dream Factor

Not a singer and never a prolific songwriter, it was not until June 2003 that Casady released his first solo album, Dream Factor , which he co-produced with Greg Hampton. Like other Airplane-related solo works it featured substantial support from other players such as Warren Haynes, Doyle Bramhall II, Jorma Kaukonen, Fee Waybill, Ivan Neville, the group Box Set, and many other musician friends.

Currently, as well as performing with Hot Tuna, Casady teaches bass workshops at Jorma Kaukonen's Fur Peace Ranch in Ohio.

Casady helped design, in conjunction with Epiphone, the "Jack Casady Signature Bass", a 34-inch scale hollow-body electric bass with single low-impedance humbucker pickup and a floating bridge. The instrument is based on Casady's mid-1970s Gibson Les Paul Signature bass which he bought in the 1980s.

Moonalice

In 2007, Casady joined a new band, Moonalice, whose members include former Jefferson Starship bassist and Hot Tuna keyboardist Pete Sears, along with G. E. Smith, Barry Sless, Ann McNamee, Roger McNamee, and Jimmy Sanchez. The first Moonalice studio album was released in April 2009. [5]

Musical approach

A bass instructional video has him repeating the word "drama" in regards to his sound/tone. Casady is widely known for the commanding tonal quality of his playing, something that he acknowledges is deliberate. He has remarked that tone is the most essential quality for an electric bassist, stating "Tone is your signature as to who you are... The music builds around the tone. It isn’t just a series of notes or the articulation or the technique. The signature sound of a great musician is his tone and that sets him apart from others." [6]

Discography

Jack Casady

Jefferson Airplane

Hot Tuna

Jefferson Starship

Moonalice

Michael Falzarano

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Airplane</span> American rock band

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1965. One of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jefferson Starship</span> American rock band

Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which has continued since his death in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hot Tuna</span> American blues rock band

Hot Tuna is an American blues rock band formed in 1969 by former Jefferson Airplane members Jorma Kaukonen (guitarist/vocals) and Jack Casady (bassist). Although it has always been a fluid aggregation, with musicians coming and going over the years, the band's center has always been Kaukonen and Casady's ongoing collaboration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Papa John Creach</span> Musical artist

John Henry Creach, better known as Papa John Creach, was an American blues violinist who also played classical, jazz, R&B, pop and acid rock music. Early in his career, he performed as a journeyman musician with Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Stuff Smith, Charlie Christian, Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Nat King Cole and Roy Milton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jorma Kaukonen</span> American guitarist (born 1940)

Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen, Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist. Kaukonen performed with Jefferson Airplane and still performs regularly on tour with Hot Tuna, which started as a side project with bassist Jack Casady, and as of early 2024 has continued for 55 years. Rolling Stone magazine ranked him No. 54 on its list of 100 Greatest Guitarists. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Jefferson Airplane.

KBC Band was formed in 1985 by former Jefferson Airplane members Paul Kantner, Marty Balin and Jack Casady (bass). Other members included Keith Crossan, Tim Gorman, Slick Aguilar and Darrell Verdusco (drums). Their sole LP, KBC Band, featured the singles "America" and "It's Not You, It's Not Me."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Kantner</span> American rock musician (1941–2016)

Paul Lorin Kantner was an American rock musician. He is best known as the co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and a secondary vocalist of Jefferson Airplane, a leading psychedelic rock band of the counterculture era. He continued these roles as a member of Jefferson Starship, Jefferson Airplane's successor band.

<i>Bark</i> (Jefferson Airplane album) 1971 studio album by Jefferson Airplane

Bark is the sixth studio album by American rock band Jefferson Airplane. Released in 1971 as Grunt FTR-1001, the album is one of the Airplane's late-period works, notable for the group's first personnel changes since 1966. The album was the first without band founder Marty Balin and the first with violinist Papa John Creach. Drummer Spencer Dryden had been replaced by Joey Covington in early 1970 after a lengthy transitional period in which both musicians had performed with the band.

<i>Long John Silver</i> (album) 1972 studio album by Jefferson Airplane

Long John Silver is the seventh studio album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane, and their last album of all new material until 1989. It was recorded and released in 1972 as Grunt FTR-1007.

<i>Jefferson Airplane</i> (album) 1989 studio album by Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane is the eighth and final studio album by San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on Epic Records in 1989. Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady all returned for the album and supporting tour, though Spencer Dryden did not participate. The album and accompanying tour would mark the last time Jefferson Airplane would perform together until their 1996 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

<i>The Worst of Jefferson Airplane</i> 1970 greatest hits album by Jefferson Airplane

The Worst of Jefferson Airplane is the first compilation album from the rock band Jefferson Airplane, released in November 1970 as RCA Victor LSP-4459. The "Worst" in the title is ironic, as the album features all of Jefferson Airplane's hit singles up to that point. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 in 1971 and has since gone platinum.

<i>Dragon Fly</i> (album) 1974 studio album by Grace Slick, Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship

Dragon Fly is the debut album by Jefferson Starship, released on Grunt Records in 1974. It peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified a gold album. Credited to Grace Slick, Paul Kantner, and Jefferson Starship, the band itself was a turning point after a series of four albums centering on the partnership of Kantner and Slick during the disintegration of Jefferson Airplane through the early 1970s.

<i>Flight Log</i> 1977 greatest hits album by Jefferson Airplane

Flight Log (1966–1976) is a compilation album by the American rock band Jefferson Airplane. Released in January 1977 as a double-LP as Grunt CYL2-1255, it is a compilation of Jefferson Airplane and Airplane-related tracks, including tracks by Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna, as well as solo tracks by Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, and Jorma Kaukonen. Although primarily a compilation album, the album includes one previously unreleased song: "Please Come Back" written by Ron Nagle and performed by Jefferson Starship. "Please Come Back" is not available on any other release.

<i>Blows Against the Empire</i> 1970 studio album by Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship

Blows Against the Empire is a concept album by Paul Kantner, released in 1970 under the name Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship. It is the first album to use the "Starship" moniker, a name which Kantner and Grace Slick would later use for the band Jefferson Starship that emerged after Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen left Jefferson Airplane. From a commercial standpoint, it performed comparably to Jefferson Airplane albums of the era, peaking at No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a RIAA gold certification. It was one of the first two albums to be nominated for a Hugo Award in the category of Best Dramatic Presentation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grunt Records</span> Record label

Grunt Records was a vanity label founded in 1971 by Jefferson Airplane and distributed by RCA Records. Initially created to sign local Bay Area acts, the label later was used only for Jefferson Starship and Hot Tuna releases. The label ended use in 1987 after Grace Slick left Starship.

Peter Kaukonen is an American guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is the younger brother of Jorma Kaukonen from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. Peter Kaukonen has played, toured, and recorded with Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Hot Tuna, Johnny Winter, Link Wray, Terry Allen, Ruthann Friedman, as well as his own band, Black Kangaroo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil</span> 1967 single by Jefferson Airplane

"The Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil" is a song by the American psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane. Written by Paul Kantner, the song initially appeared as an RCA Victor single, and then subsequently as the first track of their third album, After Bathing at Baxter's, in a substantially remixed version.

<i>Steady as She Goes</i> (Hot Tuna album) 2011 studio album by Hot Tuna

Steady as She Goes is a 2011 album by Hot Tuna, the band's first studio album since 1990. After Jorma Kaukonen recorded his solo album in 2009 at Levon Helm's studio in NY, he asked his new record company Red House if they would be interested in a Tuna album. The band started recording new tracks in November 2010 with the same producer and studio that Kaukonen used for River of Time and features the latest lineup of the band that formed in 2009 when Skoota Warner joined on drums. On March 11, 2011, Red House released "Angel of Darkness" as a free single. The album was released on CD and on iTunes April 5, 2011 and was released on vinyl in May. The album first charted on the Tastemaker and Independent album lists compiled by Billboard for the week of April 23.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pete Sears</span> English rock musician

Peter Roy Sears is an English rock musician. In a career spanning more than six decades, he has been a member of many bands and has moved through a variety of musical genres, from early R&B, psychedelic improvisational rock of the 1960s, folk, country music, arena rock in the 1970s, and blues. He usually plays bass, keyboards, or both in bands.

References

  1. ↑ Baldoni, John (November 1, 2023). "Jorma And Jack's Lessons On Collaboration". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 5, 2023. Retrieved March 21, 2024.
  2. ↑ Tamarkin, Jeff (2003). Got a Revolution!: the Turbulent Flight of Jefferson Airplane. Atria Books. pp. 46–47, 397. ISBN   9780671034030 . Retrieved December 23, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Interview: Jack Casady". Music-Illuminati.com. January 1, 2012. Archived from the original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  4. ↑ "New Jefferson Starship Album Of Formative Folk Treasures: Jefferson's Tree Of Liberty @ Top40-Charts.com – Songs & Videos from 49 Top 20 & Top 40 Music Charts from 30 Countries". Top40-charts.com. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Moonalice – News for 9/24/2008". Moonaliceband.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Rocking Steady: An Interview with Jack Casady (Part 1)". Notreble.com. March 1, 2012. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved April 29, 2017.
  7. ↑ "Bear's Sonic Journals: Before We Were Them". Jack Casady. Archived from the original on May 23, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Bear's Sonic Journals: Before We Were Them". Owsley Stanley Foundation. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.