# Did you ever see Jefferson Airplane live? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 25, 2022, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837 "2022-06-25T14:25:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/21 "2022-06-29T22:24:13Z")
Did they actually play on their records? Not being snarky. A lot of the West Coast bands actually used session musicians for the albums. The bands learned the songs and played in concerts. It’s not a secret. There’s a documentary about the guys in the 1960’s. A new group featuring Lee Skylar bass, danny kortchmar (guitar and vocals), waddy wachtel (guitar and vocals), and russ kunkel (drums) literally played on over a thousand albums from the mid 1970’s and they’re still active. A new documentary on the Immediate Family should be out next year. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/22 "2022-06-29T22:26:39Z")
Yes, they did. Airplane was no prefab. It grew organically from Marty Balin’s brain. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/23 "2022-06-29T22:31:17Z")
Thank you. I had wondered for awhile. I have respect for bands that tour heavily. They learn their songs inside out. Often making small changes to keep it interesting. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/24 "2022-06-30T00:42:15Z")
However, Grace could sing, a little: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/dyMtIwobqbI/maxresdefault.jpg "Grace Slick Vocals Isolated - White Rabbit") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyMtIwobqbI) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/25 "2022-06-30T00:54:27Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Did they actually play on their records? Not being snarky. A lot of the West Coast bands actually used session musicians for the albums. (Edited to be more civil…) What do you think this is, Man? Backstreet Boys?? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/26 "2022-06-30T00:59:08Z")
They wrote their own stuff, too. For better or worse. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/27 "2022-06-30T01:39:56Z")
The Airplane were part of the San Francisco scene, in which playing their own instruments was part of their authenticity. The L.A. scene was very different. The Wrecking Crew and the Immediate Family tended to back singers rather than bands. Sure, they sometimes worked with bands, most famously with Brian Wilson for the Beach Boys. They did so many gigs that no blanket statement is possible. In the 60s, though, San Francisco bands were famously self-contained except when they brought in some of their buddies to jam with them. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/28 "2022-06-30T02:02:29Z")
It’s usually more creative when bands played in the studio. What comes out is closer to their vision for the songs. The Airplane could rock it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/29 "2022-06-30T02:44:30Z")
I’ve never seen anything that indicated the Jefferson Airplane did not play their instruments. They brought in other musicians to augment their sound (e.g., Jerry Garcia, Nikkie Hopkins), but they were not the usual west coast studio musicians. Most interesting bit of trivia for the group was that drummer Spencer Dryden’s father was Charlie Chaplin’s half-brother, making Chaplin his uncle. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/30 "2022-06-30T03:34:41Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > (e.g., Jerry Garcia, Nikkie Hopkins), nitpick: Nicky Hopkins. Garcia played with everybody in San Francisco, since he was pretty point the pole that everybody swung around. Hopkins was an English session musician but had moved to SF and became the keyboardist for SF group Quicksilver Messenger Service. (And did magnificent work for the band that is mostly forgotten today. His solos were works of transcendent art.) LA guys Steve Stills played on _Volunteers_ and David Crosby on _Crown of Creation_ but by then they were leaving their bands and regularly traveling up in SF to soak up the vibes before returning to form CSN. You have to work pretty hard to find 60s SF groups using standard session musicians, even when they recorded in LA, which the Airplane did for every album before _Volunteers_. Early pop group The Beau Brummels credited some of the Wrecking Crew for their fourth album _Triangle_, but by then they were down to two musicians and a vocalist. ---
**Author:** ![Didi44](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47c2d/32.png) [@Didi44](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Didi44)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2022, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837/31 "2022-06-30T03:56:00Z")
Inner saw them live, but disappointed in the live vocals, both Grace and Marty. Both tried their best to loud and edgy, but Jorma and Jack seem to be in own world just wanting to jam. Not that it’s a bad thing, but that was what Hot Tuna was for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-ever-see-jefferson-airplane-live/966837.md?page=1)