Founding Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna guitarist/singer Jorma Kaukonen has lined up four special concerts celebrating his upcoming 85th birthday. The shows will take place in four different major U.S. cities this fall, and will feature various special guests. The guitarist/singer is expected to perform a career-spanning selection of tunes at the gigs.
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The concerts are scheduled for November 1 at the Warner Theatre in Washington D.C.; November 29 at Carnegie Hall in New York City; December 5 at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco; and December 13 at the Paramount Theatre in Denver.
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Joining the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer at all four shows will be his fellow Hot Tuna and Jefferson Airplane co-founder, bassist Jack Casady; longtime Hot Tuna touring drummer Justin Guip; and harmonica player, keyboardist, and composer Ross Garren.
Each concert also will feature other noteworthy guest performers. Americana singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale and longtime RatDog guitarist Steve Kimock will appear at the Washington, D.C., show. Steve Earle, the Americana duo of Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams, and guitarist G.E. Smith will hit the stage in New York City.
The San Francisco event will be packed with guest performers. They include Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks; Bruce Cockburn; bassist Sam Grisman, son of the famed bluegrass mandolinist David Grisman; Kaukonen’s brother, Peter; and Jorma collaborator John Hurlbut.
The Denver concert will feature Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo and the duo of Native American cedar flute master R. Carlos Nakai and poet/percussionist Will Clipman.
Kaukonen’s actual 85th birthday falls on December 23.
Kaukonen Has Other Concerts Scheduled for 2025
Jorma also has seven shows scheduled with his Acoustic Hot Tuna group, which also features Casady and Guip. Those concerts are plotted out from an October 24 performance in Buffalo, New York, through a November 5 show in Skokie, Illinois.
In addition, Kaukonen has one concert scheduled as a duo with Hurlbut, a December 18 performance in Columbus, Ohio. Check out Jormas full list of upcoming shows at JormaKaukonen.com.
Kaukonen’s Record Store Day Black Friday Release
In other news, Kaukonen will an archival live album titled Wabash Ave. as a limited-edition two-LP set on November 28, as part of the 2025 Record Store Day Black Friday event. The collection features previously unheard tracks from 1965 that Jorma’s wife recently discovered in the family’s storage bin.
The album captures a performance at The Offstage, a folk club in San Jose, California.
Wabash Ave. is being released as part of Kaukonen’s 85th birthday celebrations. The discs are pressed on black-and-gold vinyl. The album features covers of various folk and blues songs, as well as an early version of Jorma’s classic Jefferson Airplane instrumental “Embryonic Journey.” The album also features an interview with Kaukonen and his wife, Vanessa, discussing the recordings’ history and their recent rediscovery.
(Photo by Vernon Webb)
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