Paul Kantner with Jefferson Starship at San Jose Rocks 2006

By Jud Cost
As a founding member and integral element of Jefferson Airplane, San Francisco's first great rock 'n' roll band-then as the main cog in Jefferson Starship, the aggregation spawned in the mid-'70s when the Airplane rolled into the hangar for the last time, Kantner helped create a sound that will say "San Francisco" to generations of music lovers long after we're all gone. And yet, some of his formative, pre-Airplane years were spent in the South Bay, attending local colleges as well as helping to run a San Jose folk club.
Kantner attended Santa Clara University from 1959-61, where he first meet Jorma Kaukonen, who would one day become lead guitarist of Jefferson Airplane. "I left Santa Clara after three semesters and moved on to the ever-so-pagan San Jose State," Kantner chuckles. Already a budding singer/guitarist, he gravitated to a downtown San Jose folk club called The Offstage, a place where he and Kaukonen would give guitar lessons.
"A computer guy named Paul Foster-a really good artist and one of the progenitors of the Bay Area's graphics scene-actually put up the money for The Offstage," says Kantner. Everybody played there, he adds, including David Crosby and future Quicksilver Messenger Service (and Jefferson Starship) member David Freiberg, performing with his girlfriend in a duo called David & Michaela. "It was all quite incestuous back then," recalls Kantner of the local music scene and seeing a young Jerry Garcia play a Palo Alto folk club called The Tangent.
In early 1965, while Kantner was working a San Francisco club called The Drinking Gourd, he was spotted by Marty Balin who would make him his first selection to fill the ranks of Jefferson Airplane, Balin's dream blend of folk music and electric rock 'n' roll. Kantner recommended Kaukonen as lead guitarist, and the Airplane began playing that summer at The Matrix, a Marina district San Francisco club co-owned by Balin. Kantner sang, played rhythm guitar and co-wrote with Balin such Airplane classics as "Come Up The Years" and "Today" as well as penning "The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil," "Crown Of Creation," "Martha" and "We Can Be Together" by himself.
By 1970, Jefferson Airplane had reached the zenith of the rock 'n' roll world, along with the Doors. Headliners at Woodstock and hugely successful worldwide, the Airplane would begin to wind down as its members found other things to do. For Kantner and iconic Airplane lead vocalist Grace Slick, soon to start a serious relationship (and a family), time on their hands meant creating Kantner's debut solo LP, "Blows Against The Empire," with an all-star cast that included David Crosby and Jerry Garcia. Almost as an afterthought, Kantner billed the album as Paul Kantner and Jefferson Starship, even though no such band existed at the time.
By the time the Airplane had cashed in its chips in 1973, Kantner knew which direction he was heading. He would become the full-time leader of Jefferson Starship, its permanent new name suggested by Airplane (and Starship) manager Bill Thompson. With Grace Slick and old pal David Freiberg in the fold, along with whiz-kid guitarist Craig Chaquico, "Dragon Fly," the first official Jefferson Starship album roared off the launch pad in 1974. The band would continue to sell even more records than Jefferson Airplane had in its heyday, racking up an impressive series of platinum albums and regularly assaulting the Top 100 charts with smash singles like "Miracles," "Count On Me," "Runaway" and "Jane."
After a disagreement in musical direction, Kantner would leave the group in 1984 and take the "Jefferson Starship" moniker with him. In 1985, Kantner, Balin and original Airplane bassist Jack Casady formed the KBC Band and cut one album for the Arista label. A self-titled 1989 Jefferson Airplane reunion album with Balin, Kantner, Slick, Kaukonen and Casady appeared on Epic and generated a nationwide tour, after which the band decided to call it quits, presumably for the last time.

[@BlueskyLouAnn]

I think this singer did a great job!! Grace is one of a kind for sure but this sounds good!

[@richardbeet429]

WHERE IS GRACE SLICK??