Song of the Day 10/7: RIP Martyn Jerel Buchwald

Song of the Day would be remiss if it ignored the recent death of Martyn Jerel Buchwald, better known as Marty Balin, founding member of the Jefferson Airplane, the band that towed the banner of the San Francisco scene. His start in music came much earlier, though, and his career went through several permutations.

First he tried being a boy crooner:

When the Great Folk Music Scare hit, he became an earnest folkie:

He had lots of music-biz connections and a bar to use as a launching pad when he met Paul Kantner, and handled most of the lead vocals when Signe Anderson was still with the Airplane:

Despite his square roots, he shape-shifted easily into a psychedelic rock pioneer…:

While retaining his way with a sensitive ballad:

He handled fewer vocals with Grace Slick aboard, and when the wheels fell off he left the band, before rejoining the Jefferson Starship a few years later. That incarnation of the group was flat-out commercial, playing what we now call yacht rock. Still, Balin really gets to show off the pipes on this one:

He eventually went solo and had a couple of similar hits in the early ’80s:

He died Sept. 27, age 76, but his voice echoes on.