Actors - Jefferson Airplane

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	Actors - Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band from San Francisco, a pioneer of the LSD-influenced psychedelic rock movement. The band's August, 1969 performance at Woodstock is widely considered one of rock's most memorable moments.

Various successor incarnations of the band have performed under different names, reflecting changing times and performer lineups, known as Jefferson Starship, and later simply Starship before becoming Jefferson Starship The Next Generation in 1991.

Jefferson Airplane was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The term Jefferson airplane is also slang for a used match bent to hold a marijuana cigarette that has been smoked too short to hold without burning the hands, an improvised roach clip. An urban legend claims this was the origin for the band's name, though according to band member Jorma Kaukonen the name was invented by his friend Steve Talbot as a parody of blues names such as "Blind Lemon" Jefferson .

Jefferson Airplane

The group formed on the West Coast of the USA during the summer of 1965 in what was called the San Francisco Bay folk boom. Singer Marty Balin recruited another folk musician, Paul Kantner (born March 17, 1941, San Francisco), blues guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, jazz and folk vocalist Signe Toly Anderson, drummer Jerry Peloquin, and acoustic bassist Bob Harvey. They drew inspiration from groups such as the Beatles, the Byrds, and The Lovin' Spoonful, and built a local following at the Matrix Club.

The group made its first public appearance August 13, 1965 at The Matrix club in San Francisco. Peloquin was a seasoned musician whose disdain for the others' drug use was a factor in his departure just a few weeks after the group began its career. Skip Spence then took the drum chair. The band gradually developed a more electric sound that led to Harvey's replacement by Kaukonen's childhood friend, Jack Casady, in October 1965. Later in 1965, they signed to RCA and recorded an album for release the following year called Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. Folk music very much influenced the group's debut album, which included staples such as John D. Loudermilk's "Tobacco Road" and Dino Valente's "Let's Get Together," as well as original group ballads like "It's No Secret" and "Come Up the Years." In 1966, Spence was replaced by jazz drummer Spencer Dryden and Anderson by singer Grace Slick, formerly of another San Francisco group, The Great Society. Amongst their fans, the group's name was often shortened to "the Airplane". Slick brought with her a powerful and supple contralto voice, well suited to the group's amplified psychedelic music, as well as a number of important compositions, including "White Rabbit" (which Grace wrote) and "Somebody to Love" (written by Grace's brother-in-law, Great Society guitarist Darby Slick).

Their transition from local to national notoriety was engendered by their appearance at the epochal Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967. Monterey showcased leading bands from several major music 'scenes' including New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and England and the resulting TV and film coverage gave national (and international) exposure to groups that had previously had only regional fame. All these bands were also greatly assisted by appearances on nationally syndicated TV shows such The Ed Sullivan Show, which were videotaped in color and augmented by recent developments in video techniques. The Airplane's famous appearance on the Sullivan show, performing "White Rabbit", has been frequently re-screened and is notable for its pioneering use of the Chroma key process to simulate the Airplane's customary psychedelic light show.

Membership remained stable until 1970, by which time they had recorded five more albums. The first of these, Surrealistic Pillow (1967), included two classic tracks, "White Rabbit" (inspired by the psychedelic drug LSD, then extremely popular in San Francisco, Maurice Ravel's Bolero, and Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland), and the rousing anthem "Somebody to Love", as well as a reminder of their earlier folk incarnation, Kaukonen's solo acoustic guitar tour de force, "Embryonic Journey", which referenced contemporary acoustic guitar masters such as John Fahey and helped to establish the popular genre exemplified by acoustic guitarist Leo Kottke. The album was extremely successful, reaching #3 in the US album charts, and alongside Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Doors' debut album, it is widely regarded as one of the seminal albums of the so-called "Summer Of Love".

The name Surrealistic Pillow was suggested by the "shadow" producer of the album, Jerry Garcia, when he mentioned that, as a whole, the album sounded "as Surrealistic as a pillow". The record company would not allow Garcia's considerable contributions to the album to garner him a "Producer" credit, so Garcia is listed in the album's credits as "spiritual advisor".

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Actors - Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane

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