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Hot Tuna

The name Hot Tuna invokes as many different moods and reactions as there are Hot Tuna fans — millions of them. To some, Hot Tuna is a reminder of some wild and happy times. To others, that name will forever be linked to their own discovery of the power and depth of American blues and roots music. To newer fans, Hot Tuna is a tight, masterful duo that is on the cutting edge of great music.

All of those things are correct, and more. For more than four decades, Hot Tuna has played, toured, and recorded some of the best and most memorable acoustic and electric music ever. And Hot Tuna is still going strong — some would say stronger than ever.

The two kids from 1950s Washington, D.C. knew that they wanted to make music. Jorma Kaukonen, son of a State Department official, and Jack Casady, whose father was a dentist, discovered guitar when they were teenagers (Jack, four years younger, barely so). They played, and they took in the vast panorama of music available in the nation’s capital, but found a special love of the blues, country, and jazz played in small clubs.

Jorma went off to college, while Jack sat in with professional bands and combos before he was even old enough to drive, first playing lead guitar, then electric bass.

In the mid-1960s Jorma was invited to play in a rock‘n’roll band that was forming in San Francisco; he knew just the guy to play bass and summoned his old friend from back east. The striking signature guitar and bass riffs in the now-legendary songs by the Jefferson Airplane were the result.

The half-decade foray into 1960s San Francisco rock music was for Jack and Jorma an additional destination, not the final one. They continued to play their acoustic blues on the side, sometimes performing a mini-concert amid a Jefferson Airplane performance, sometimes finding a gig afterwards in some local club. They were, as Jack says, “Scouting, always scouting, for places where we could play.”

The duo did not go unnoticed and soon there was a record contract and not long afterwards a tour. Thus began a career that would result in more than two-dozen albums, thousands of concerts around the world, and continued popularity.

Hot Tuna has gone through changes, certainly. A variety of other instruments, from harmonica to fiddle to keyboards, have been part of the band over the years, and continue to be, varying from project to project. The constant, the very definition of Hot Tuna, has always been Jorma and Jack.

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2
Extended Analysis

Live At Sweetwater / Live At Sweetwater Two / Live In Japan

Read "Live At Sweetwater / Live At Sweetwater Two / Live In Japan" reviewed by Doug Collette


Hot Tuna's Live at Sweetwater/Live at Sweetwater 2/Live in Japan (Mercury Studios, 2004) reaffirms the fluidity of personnel that's marked the veteran ensemble throughout its over fifty-year career. Comprised of titles originally issued on the Relix Records label in the mid-to-late Nineties, then re-released in modified form in 2004, this Mercury Studios compendium may represent the definitive versions of those titles (though the lack of notes providing historical perspective, as appeared on previous editions, leaves that a moot point).

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Extended Analysis

Hot Tuna: Steady As She Goes

Read "Hot Tuna: Steady As She Goes" reviewed by Doug Collette


Hot TunaSteady As She GoesRed House 2011 Singer and guitarist Jorma Kaukonen's last solo album, River Of Time (Red House, 2009), sounded more than a little like a vintage Hot Tuna album, so it's little surprise the group's first studio album in 20 years has come along in such short order. Like its predecessor, it was recorded at Levon Helm's Barn in Woodstock New York, and also produced by Larry Campbell, ...

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Performance / Tour

Hot Tuna: 2012 Tour

Hot Tuna: 2012 Tour

Source: JamBase

A NEW RUN OF DATES FOR JORMA KAUKONEN AND JACK CASADY Hot Tuna, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, are hitting the road for a slew of dates in 2012. The guys start up with a run of shows starting February 22 in Camdem, ME and ending on March 15 in Cincinnati. They'll perform at Wanee on April 19 and Caramoor Festival on June 30, and pick it back up with with a summer run which starts on July 9 in ...

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Recording

Hot Tuna: Steady as She Goes

Hot Tuna: Steady as She Goes

Source: JamBase

FIRST ALL-NEW STUDIO ALBUM IN 20 YEARS

Hot Tuna are set to release their new album Steady As She Goes on April 5. The release marks their first set of original material in twenty years. Click here for pre-orders.

Produced by Larry Campbell, mainstays Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady are joined by Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin and Skoota Warner on drums. Check out the tracklist and see Hot Tuna at one of their record release shows. All dates are below. ...

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Performance / Tour

Hot Tuna | California | Review | Pics

Hot Tuna | California | Review | Pics

Source: JamBase

By L. Paul Mann Hot Tuna :: 03.10.11 :: Lobero Theatre :: Santa Barbara, CA Generations of music fans exchanged stories from their murky memories of one of America's most enduring rock groups at the backstage pre-party at the Lobero Theatre. Sipping on bottles of an exclusive blues label wine and cocktails, partying patrons could be heard talking about rock guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and bassist Jack Cassidy playing gigs with the original Jefferson Airplane, in the 60s. The backbone of ...

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Festival

Furthur Fest: Initial Lineup Hot Tuna, Jackie Greene, Hips

Furthur Fest: Initial Lineup Hot Tuna, Jackie Greene, Hips

Source: JamBase

Furthur :: 12.31.09 :: by Susan J. Weiand The Furthur curated gathering Furthur Festival @ Mountain Aire will take place May 28-30 at Calaveras County Fairgrounds in Angels Camp, CA. The festival will feature four stages, camping, special late night shows, organic food & drink, special Grateful Dead memorabilia, artwork and music selected by archivist David Lemieux.

Initial Lineup Furthur (headling two nights) Electric Hot Tuna Jackie Greene Galactic Larry ...

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Performance / Tour

Haiti Benefit: Members of Ween RRE, Hot Tuna on 2/14 in NYC

Haiti Benefit: Members of Ween RRE, Hot Tuna on 2/14 in NYC

Source: JamBase

Haiti Benefit this weekend features members of Railroad Earth, Ween and Hot Tuna

Railroad Earth Americana Artist George Kilby Jr. will produce a Valentine's Day Benefit Concert for Haitian Aid, February 14, from 3 p.m. till Midnight at Mannys on Second in New York City. Internationally known musicians who are based in New York will be featured, along with regional bands playing a wide variety of genres including bluegrass, jazz, blues, country, funk, and rock & roll.

Partners in Health ...

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Performance / Tour

Hot Tuna in Jamaica

Hot Tuna in Jamaica

Source: JamBase

Hot Tuna Celebrates 50 years of friendship in Jamaica December 10-14

Hot Tuna Hot Tuna have recently announced that they will be playing this December in Jamaica. The band will summon the spirits of their deceased old rock star friends and celebrate the anniversary of the festival that started it all - Woodstock.

Hot Tuna is Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. Both from Washington, D.C., the two musicians have been playing together since grade school, long before their days in ...

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