Jefferson Airplane Guitarist Reflects on Band's Formation 60 Years Ago, Says Grace Slick Changed 'Everything' (Exclusive)

Meredith WilshereSun, March 29, 2026 at 4:00 PM UTC

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Jefferson AirplaneCredit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty -

Jorma Kaukonen initially planned to move to Denmark in the '60s, but joined Jefferson Airplane after being invited by Paul Kantner

The band solidified itself with its first album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, but grew to new heights after releasing Surrealistic Pillow with Grace Slick

Kaukonen reflects on the album's lasting legacy, calling it a "bona fide work of art" decades later

Jorma Kaukonen didn't know how big Jefferson Airplane would become when he first joined the band.

The Grammy award-winning guitarist, 85, tells PEOPLE that he first crossed paths with one of the original members at school, and they became fast friends.

"Paul Kanter had moved to San Francisco, right around the time I was graduating from the University of Santa Clara, and he met Marty Balin, the two guys are the founders of the Jefferson Airplane," he shares. "They started this band and asked me if I wanted to join."

At the time, Kaukonen had convinced himself that he was going to move to Denmark, where he would become an expat American blues musician.

Jorma KaukonenCredit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

"For better rather than worse, I think I got distracted and went to San Francisco and got snookered into playing in the band that would ultimately be called Jefferson Airplane," the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame® Inductee shares.

Aside from Kaukonen, Kanter and Balin, the original band consisted of vocalist Signe Toly Anderson, bass player Bob Harvey and drummer Jerry Peloquin. However, Jack Casady soon replaced Harvey and Skip Spence replaced Peloquin.

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When the band got together, they were slated to be the house band at a club called The Matrix.

"I don't think my dreams expanded much larger than something like that," Kaukonen admits. "San Jose was a small one back in those days. I was teaching in a music store. I really had a comfortable life, and I really didn't think about being 'a star' at any level."

Jorma KaukonenCredit: Vernon Webb

Looking back at the time, he admits that he also felt a sense of "youthful self-entitlement."

"When good things happen to you when you're young, it's like, 'I really deserve this.' It's not like we worked for years and finally achieved success. The band got together in August of 1965, and we had a record deal with a major label in our city before the year was out. How many people does that happen to?" Kaukonen says.

One year after the band formed, in August 1966, they released their debut studio album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off. While the album wasn't a chart-topping hit, it established the band in the American rock world.

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Then, in 1967, Jefferson Airplane released Surrealistic Pillow, the band's first album with vocalist Grace Slick and drummer Spencer Dryden. The album featured the popular songs "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit."

To Kaukonen, the album was a "major breakout for us on more levels than I can count."

"When we got Grace [Slick] in the band, everything really changed. It was a headspace thing," he shares. "I had never played in an electric band before. Everything was totally new. I'm learning how to play electric guitar, what to play in electric guitar, how to deal with the sounds, most importantly, how to play in a band."

"For me, it was all uncharted territory, and it was a quantum leap, really, from Jefferson Airplane Takes Off to Surrealistic Pillow," Kaukonen notes.

Jefferson AirplaneCredit: CBS via Getty

The Library of Congress later recognized the album as "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

"There've been a lot of legacy-related things that happened with that album that none of us could have possibly imagined or would've even wanted to imagine back in that time," he adds.

One of the things that still takes Kaukonen by surprise is that "this many years later, it's a respected work of art."

Jorma KaukonenCredit: Vernon Webb

"I don't think I would've called it that when I was a kid when we recorded, but to me, it's a bona fide work of art and to have earned the respect that it has is an honor on more levels than I can really express," Kaukonen shares.

Kaukonen says the album is "the link that created a lot of ripples that are still rippling for my pals and me."

"When you're a young, successful artist, you accept it as just the way things are. But looking back on it, it was a fortuitous set of circumstances for us," Kaukonen says.

Despite being in his 80s, the guitarist continues to play and released the album Wabash Avenue in 2025. He will tour this year, with a stop in Michigan's Historic Ironwood Theatre with John Hurlbut.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”