Jorma Kaukonen - solo

I'm looking for some solo Jorma recommendations. Not Hot Tuna, just Jorma. I'm very familiar with Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna some, but I don't know his solo stuff at all.

Best place to start? Most essential?

Studio albums

• Quah (with Tom Hobson) (1974)
• Jorma (1979)
• Barbeque King (with Vital Parts) (1981)
• Too Hot to Handle (1985)
• Embryonic Journey (with Tom Constanten) (1994)
• The Land of Heroes (1995)
• Christmas (1996)
• Too Many Years (1998)
• Blue Country Heart (2002)
• Stars in My Crown (2007)
• River of Time (2009)
• Ain't In No Hurry (2015)

Live albums

• Magic (1985)
• Magic Two (1995)
• Jorma Kaukonen Trio Live (2001)

I'd love to hear about any of the above, but also interested in hearing his old folk, pre-Airplane stuff...but I don't see much on the interwebs? Is more stuff like this out there?


6/25/64

Comments about live gigs and recordings, past or present, would be helpful as well!

Thanks!

 

The song "Genesis" is wonderful. Start there. Off "Quah", I think.

 

A few are on Spotify including his first solo album, figured I might as well start at the beginning anyway. And wow, can't believe I haven't heard this. Better than later never I guess...



I need to order this CD, looks like all releases except the original 1987 CD have bonus tracks, but if anyone has an opinion about best SQ I'm all ears!

 

Blue Country Heart is super accessible, just tasty covers of classic old-timey songs. I'd say start there.

 

The best stuff for me would be the first 4 albums above.

• Quah (with Tom Hobson) (1974)
• Jorma (1979)
• Barbeque King (with Vital Parts) (1981)
• Too Hot to Handle (1985)

I got all those back in the day plus saw many solo gigs back then, quite a treat, great times.

Quah, Jorma, and Too Hot.. cover the essential acoustic Jorma.

BBQ King gives you his electroheavypunk phase.

The later stuff doesn't do much for me. Too much Falzarano and country stuff.

 

Another recommendation for "Blue County Heart". Wonderful production and a stellar set of musicians on this one.

 

I like blue country heart but love embryonic journey

 

Quah is completely essential if you ask me. Includes one of my favorite acoustic guitar performances of all time:

 

Agree!
Way back when, I'd only been familiar with Jorma's amazing "Embryonic Journey", but then my college roommate played "I'll Be Alright", the Quah album, and other stellar tracks.
Then we saw him play live at local club McCabes (that has a seating capacity of 150 or so...?)

Utterly amazing and riveting performance.

 

FYI for any Spotify users - there are tons of live Jorma shows available for streaming - probably about 100 shows, through December 2016.

 

The Scandinavian Love God does not disappoint.

Jormas best work is Live.

...and, with Jack.

 

Quah is great. Dave picked it up here this past weekend.

 

And to my ears the recording is immaculate. Other than that I would go with Quah.

 

Just re-iterating the recommendations. Start off with the first two and BCH. Then perhaps seek out some of the live solo shows from the 1980's.

 

Quah and especially Jorma are essential - I also love his more recent albums (from Blue country heart onwards) , great mix of bluegrass and blues , you can skip Barbeque king

 

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, this is where I'm at...

• Album #2, the eponymous Jorma, arrived today. Really really good, I like it a lot so far...but it will take me many more listens to compare it to Quah though.
• I was going to skip Barbecue King for now, based on the comment above and others I have read. But I found one cheap on Discogs (lowest used CD on Amazon is $33). I've read it is quite a mixed bag though.
• Too Hot to Handle should arrive any day, looking forward to that one.
• Embryonic Journey same as Barbecue King, was going to skip it because this out-of-print, limited edition CD is often pricey, but found an $8 one on Discogs. Not really wild about the one track I have heard.
• Going to get all of the ones between Blues Country Heart and 2015's Ain't In No Hurry.

So, my big question now is - what about the 90s albums - The Land of Heroes, Christmas, Too Many Years. Not any comments on those so far...anyone...?

 

They are not to my liking. YMMV.

 

See if you can find some Jorma shows with Barry Mitterhoff on mandolin. All the ones I've heard are too f*ng awesome! Barry's playing complements Jorma's like no one else ('cept Jack, of course). The search will be well worth the effort! Unfortunately, Mitterhoff hasn't appeared on many commercial/official releases (except

• Stars in My Crown

• River of Time

• Ain't In No Hurry )

 

Not solo but it's fun to hear him back up Janis in the old folk days.
Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen - Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out »

 

Thanks for posting. That must be part of what is known as The Typewriter Tape, Jorma's wife typing in the background starts early in the song!

Jorma Kaukonen on Janis Joplin and Recording the 1964 ‘Typewriter Tape’

 

Too Many Years is actually really good. I'd put it in the Top 5. The title track is a superior remake of a song he had recorded both on Too Hot To Handle and the Airplane reunion album. Similarly, it also has a worthwhile new arrangement of "Man For All Seasons" from Barbeque King. Then there's an instrumental that evokes Quah ("Heaven on Earth"), and the cover of "Friend of the Devil" is pretty nice.

Land of Heroes is similar in style and makeup, but not as good. It has an Airplane remake ("Trial By Fire") and some Rev. Gary Davis ("Have More Faith in Jesus"), but it's lacking in new Jorma originals. (It actually has more Michael Falzarano originals...)

Haven't heard the Christmas album.

 

Another hearty vote for Blue Country Heart. Pure perfection, IMO!