Editing Jorma Kaukonen (section)

=== Formation ===

In 1965, Kaukonen was recruited by Marty Balin and Paul Kantner as lead guitarist for the 
newly formed [[Jefferson Airplane]]. Alongside bassist [[Jack Casady]], whom Kaukonen had 
known since childhood (the two had grown up in the same Washington, D.C. neighbourhood), 
he became part of the rhythm section that would define the band's sound.

Kaukonen's role in the Airplane was primarily as lead guitarist, but his fingerpicking 
background gave the band's early folk rock material a distinctive textural quality 
that set them apart from the more straightforwardly electric approach of many contemporaries. 
On record and in performance, he could move fluidly between delicate acoustic passages 
and high-volume electric work.