Ace of Cups

Formed amid the rise of psychedelic sounds right in Haight-Ashbury, the Ace of Cups assembled a largely self-penned set list that featured songwriting contributions from nearly every member while requiring vocals from the entire lineup. Guitarist Denise Kaufman handled the largest share of both composition and lead singing; prior to the group she had already appeared on a little-known 1966 garage-rock 45 by Denise & Company, contributing vocals and harmonica, and she had also been romantically linked to Jann Wenner, who would later co-found Rolling Stone. Initial management fell to Ambrose Hollingsworth, the same figure who had steered Quicksilver Messenger Service through its first years until a car accident left him unable to continue; Hollingsworth eventually handed day-to-day responsibilities to Ron Polte, who had already taken over Quicksilver’s affairs after Hollingsworth’s departure.

On the late-1960s San Francisco circuit the all-female, fully self-contained Ace of Cups earned steady local bookings, occasional out-of-town gigs, and support slots for Jefferson Airplane, becoming one of the scant handful of such bands operating in that scene. A December 1967 Melody Maker item by Jimi Hendrix, with whom they had shared a free Golden Gate Park panhandle bill shortly after the Monterey Pop Festival, added further notice. Despite this visibility and overtures from Warner Bros., Capitol, and Fantasy, no contract materialized; the band’s managers judged the group unready or the terms unsuitable, while keyboardist Marla Hunt later recalled that Albert Grossman’s interest had been rebuffed by Polte. Additional hesitation stemmed from several members beginning families and therefore resisting the prospect of road work to promote records.

No commercial releases appeared during the group’s lifespan, confining lasting recognition to those who had caught them onstage. Kaufman’s “Flute Song” did surface on Quicksilver Messenger Service’s 1969 album Shady Grove, and the Ace of Cups supplied backing vocals for Quicksilver, Jefferson Airplane, Nick Gravenites, and Mike Bloomfield. By the early 1970s original personnel had begun to depart; the roster shifted repeatedly, at one stage incorporating three men, until the band dissolved around 1972.

A 2003 Big Beat compilation titled It’s Bad for You But Buy It! gathered late-1960s rehearsal, demo, television, and concert tapes, revealing an uneven blend of raw blues-inflected garage rock, gently harmonized gospel-tinged material, and eccentric pieces laced with topical satire. While these tracks display more potential than fully realized craft and can sound somewhat rough or imitative beside stronger contemporaneous San Francisco outfits, the set also preserves the 1966 Denise & Company track “Boy, What’ll You Do Then.”