From left: Jude Gold, David Freiberg, Cathy Richardson, Chris Smith, and Donny Baldwin. Photos: Kevin Baldes
David Freiberg has the distinction of being a founding member of Jefferson Starship in 1974, along with the late Paul Kantner. Freiberg is still with the band. But it hasn’t been one continuous ride since the founding.
Jefferson Starship has had more permutations than almost any rock outfit. You can joke about needing a scorecard to tell who’s in and who’s out, Players come in and players go out and many return. And don’t forget the spawning bands.
Freiberg is among the five bandmates that will play at Levoy Theatre in Millville on April 24, part of the tail end of the 50th Anniversary Tour. Some of those 50 years, the band lie dormant, but who’s counting.
In his pre-Jeffersonian days—he was a member of the Jefferson Airplane for a short stint—Freiberg, now 86, played classical viola and also folk music. All that changed when the Beatles arrived in America. Freiberg, like so many musicians of that era, switched from folk to rock, and joined the fledgling Quicksilver Messenger Service, one of countless bands to emanate from San Francisco.
“Paul and I are old musicians who came together,” Freiberg says. “Paul got me out of prison to form Jefferson Starship. In 1972, Balin left the Airplane, and I joined.”
He also helped create Jefferson Starship out of the remnants of Jefferson Airplane in 1974. He remained with the band through 1985 when those dreaded creative differences led to his departure…for a time.
Let’s not forget Starship, sans Jefferson, yet another project made from the remnants of Jefferson Airplane, with Marty Balin, Grace Slick, Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen, the latter two functioning also as a Hot Tuna side gig. They formed in 1985 without Kantner and Freiberg, who both departed Jefferson Starship.
You got all that? But this is about Jefferson Starship not Jefferson Airplane or Starship. In the 1970s and 1980s, Jefferson Starship earned three platinum and eight gold records.
“Marty came and went,” Freiberg says of Balin’s role in Jefferson Starship. “I left in 1985 when they dropped the Jefferson part of the name. It fell apart in 1989.”
But reformed again in 1992.
In addition to Freiberg, the band that plays the Levoy includes:
• Cathy Richardson, the vocalist who joined Jefferson Starship when it reformed in 1992.
• Donny Baldwin the drummer who first played in 1982 and returned in 2005.
• Chris Smith, a keyboardist who first joined in 1998.
• Jude Gold, a guitarist.
Marty sang a song on the first Jefferson Starship album and came back for Red Octopus. In 1985, Starship issued their first album Nothing Can Stop Us Now. Mickey Thomas replaced Slick in Jefferson Starship, but she returned for the album Modern Times in 1981.
“There was a revolving membership,” Freiberg says. “When Kantner passed away in 2016 this was a band. We felt a kinship. We all played for each other trying to keep Paul together.”
The good vibes remain. “We’re having more fun than ever. This is my favorite version.”
This version recorded an album, Mother of the Sun, in 2020, which included a track written by Slick, who makes sure you know she’s alive and well still.
Despite their age, the show could go as long as two hours, Freiberg says. According to the April 4 setlist on Setlist FM at the Event Center at Rivers Casino Des Plaines, in Des Plaines, IL, the band performed Jefferson Starship biggies like “Setting Sun,” “Jane,” and “Find Your Way Back.” Some Slick-flavored tunes from Jefferson Airplane, “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love.” Even the two biggest Starship hits, “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” and “We Built this City.”
“We’ve had a good response; fantastic audiences,” says Freiberg who has played bass, keyboards and viola during his Jefferson Starship career. “Cathy is one of best singers I ever heard. It’s great fun harmonizing. Jude is among the great guitar players. Chris is great at keyboard playing. This band is so good. I’m still singing good. People don’t run out when I open my mouth.”
