Last January 30, I was fortunate enough to be in the audience for a performance of acoustic Hot Tuna, at the Charleston Music Hall(SC). Hot Tuna is Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Cassidy and occasional side musicians to round out the sound. This night, they were a quartet, with drummer Will Smith on drums and an unnamed artist weaving harmonica notes around the flat-picking genius of Jorma Kaukonen.

But wait, who is Hot Tuna and why should we be interested in what they have to offer? Let’s travel back in time for an understanding of the genius of Hot Tuna. For starters, Jorma and Jack met in high school back in the DC area in the fifties. By 1958, they would play as a duo in some seedy bars around DC. and the surrounding areas. In 1962, Jorma began studies at Santa Clara University.in California

It was here, at college, that he met Janis Joplin, with whom he had a fling. By 1965 he was being offered the lead guitar slot in a new band, Jefferson Airplane. He lobbied for Jack Cassidy to play bass and that was what it took to transport Jack from DC to SF. Alongside Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Marty Balin and Spencer Dryden, they led the San Francisco sound alongside the Grateful Dead, Carlos Santana and Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company. The wild success of “The Airplane” allowed Jorma and Jack plenty of time for them to perform as an acoustic duo acoustic in small clubs and electric music just about anywhere else. Jorma,Jack and their Airplane bandmates were inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The Airplane disbanded in 1973 and resurrected as Jefferson Starship a few years later. By this time, Jorma and Jack had left no doubt that they were devoted to Hot Tuna 100% of the time. It’s been that way ever since. Over the years there were plenty of solo Jorma tours but Jack usually only went out on the road with Jorma. And they toured a lot! I was 17 in 1972 when I first saw Jefferson Airplane perform outdoors at Gaelic Park in the Bronx, NY. In 1975, as a college sophomore, I saw Hot Tuna fours times both indoors and out, all electric. They were the loudest electric band I have heard in concert until I saw the Foo Fighters in Columbia, SC in 2017. Below are two photos that I took of the band back 1975, as a student at the State University college at Oneonta, NY. Jorma and Jack autographed these after the show.

Over the decades, I caught an occasional show from Hot Tuna, like the night I saw them at the Windjammer on the Isle of Palms near Charleton. It’s a small beach bar that likely holds less than 500 when they pack it in. But most of my most recent encounters with Jorma was at the Pourhouse, a small bar in Charleston (SC) where he usually played solo or with one accompaniment on stage.

The last time Jorma was in town he opened for the David Bromberg band at the Music Hall. It was Jorma and his guitar sitting and singing for an appreciative audience. On January 30, it was Jorma on acoustic guitar, Jack Cassidy on electric bass, Justin Juip on the drums and an unnamed harmonica player adding some soulful notes in between Jorma’s flatpicking. For two sets and a break, they gave the audience nearly two and a half hours of their favorite songs while the audience watched their musical mastery flow seamlessly from song to song. They kept the banter to a minimum throughout the evening. Jorma’s voice was surpassed only by his ability to pick and strum flawlessly through nearly two dozen tunes from their vast repertoire. Many of the tunes come from the early blues masters, such as five tunes from Rev. Gary Davis, and selections from Blind Willie Johnson and Leroy Carr. They were weaved around Hot tuna originals and a few Jefferson Airplane selections. The performance was like comfort food for the ears. You could just sit back in the Music Hall’s comfortable seats and let the music takes you away.

If you’ve read this far, you might have calculated that Jorma and Jack are up there in years. As it is, Jorma turned 84 last December and Jack will be 81 this April (2025). A small portion of career musicians are still performing and at a high level on top of that!  It’s high time to celebrate this duo who have been performing together for more than 60 years and certainly let you know they enjoy playing together.

Check out some of their videos on YouTube. I recommend Hot Tuna-Whining Boy Blues 12-7-2024 from the Capital Theatre, Port Chester, NY. This is the same lineup that performed together at the above-mentioned Charleston Music Hall show. If you hear of them coming to a theatre near you, run, don’t walk, to get tickets. Let me know what you thought of the show!

#hottuna #JormaKaukonan #JackCassidy #CharlestonMusicHall #JeffersonAirplane