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Paul Kanter died at age 74. He was a member of Jefferson Airplane and later Jefferson Starship. He died from complications due to heart attacks.
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You left us with great art.
Vbr,
Sam
He had a couple of great vocalists and a phenomenal guitarist and bass player, but, make no mistake, he was the leader. He will be missed.
"It's all fun and games until someone doesn't pick up on the sarcasm"
What has he done in the last two decades? I have heard nothing. Like Thelonius Monk, when Kantner stopped music he really stopped.
I love the Jefferson Airplane and am amazed they get so few mentions anywhere.
I agree that Kantner was a leader - consider the musicians in that band - getting those people to play together would have taken a strong personality since he was dealing with some strong personalities.
He was a much better than average songwriter and must have had good arranging skills.
Of course, NONE OF THEM can be forgiven for that STARSHIP nonsense.
VOLUNTEERS will forever be a favorite record. Nicky Hopkins piano playing fit in perfectly. GOOD SHEPHERD is ringing in my ears as I type.
He has actually worked on a variety of projects, including a reformed J. Starship, over the past couple of decades. But his strongest work was definitely with the Airplane and Starship first edition.
The Airplane was hands-down my favorite band thru high school, and a lot of their stuff holds up well still, the naivete of some of the leftist radicalism notwithstanding. The instrumental core of Kantner-Kaukonen-Casady-Dryden just plain ROCKED with an intensity matched by few then or since, while the folk-based vocal harmonies soared and swooped and interwove over the top. It was a truly unique and innovative sound.
All the studio records were well-crafted in their way, with a nice diversity of material from soft ballads to driving acid rock, and production values a bit above the norm for pop records of the day. "Pillow" stands out for its slick Hollywood production (Casady once commented that it was drenched in reverb, but it was the kind of reverb that sounds really cool when you're stoned, and probably helped sell more records), and "Baxter's" for its sheer goofy experimentalism, but I'd still call "Crown" their masterpiece.
It's too bad they didn't document more of their live performances, which were terrific and took the songs to a whole 'nother level beyond the studio recordings. I'm truly thankful I got to catch them live three times. Wouldn't it be great if they had recorded enough shows to make possible a "Dick's Picks" style series of releases?
RIP - Loved that sound, they even had some good quality recordings..Believe it or not one of my favorites was their Woodstock Performance.
A great one! R.I.P.
The Airplane was probably my favorite rock group ever, beautiful tunes and wonderful harmony and Kantor was certainly a vital part of it.
with the best of them.
Made a great contribution locally and... beyond.
R.I.P.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
I saw him last summer at Moondance Jam in Walker Mn.
He was so "stove up" that he couldn't stand. He just sat on a box on the left side of the stage the whole show.
I guess it's not a big surprise.
Meat; It's the right thing to do. Romans 14:2
That's a drag man. He made a lot of good music.
Sorry about the spelling. Make that Paul Kantner.
What a unique brain/talent...I was privileged to see him perform many times; I was never disappointed.
Ave atque vale!
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