Jan Hammer

Great thread idea, Polly! I forgot about this but it was once a very topical thing for my drummer friends back in the day. We used to wonder what the heck the deal was with Hammer being so good on the drums. This was before the internet age so researching stuff like this wasn't so easy, so we just came to the conclusion that the guy was a musical natural on multiple instruments. But yeah, I'd be curious to find out what the deal was with Hammer on the drums. Did he study them seriously? I sure hope he did, because it's kind of scary to think he could play like he did on that Beck stuff without doing any formal work.
 
I started searching and stumbled onto this. Yes, you can spot Jan playing drums for a few seconds on this. But its value goes way above and beyond that :)

http://youtu.be/_5uCKz7eCLU
 
OMG, that's so funny! You've got to hand it to Jan, whatever he does ... he goes at it 100%. It's a long way from Birds of Fire and Blue Wind though, but I guess even genius musicians need to pay the bills.

What to you make of his stroke? It looks unrefined to me, but it's hard to judge with mimed vids. When I think of some of those mimed shows by The Who where Moonie's doing camp little cymbal taps ... :)
 
Yeah, there's nothing obvious about his mechanics to suggest he could play as well as he does.

What's scary is how many drummers spend their lives honing their craft and never get to the level of this guy who doesn't even include drumming in the footnotes of his career.
 
Amazing to have so much talent that you can seemingly play drums right from day one, even if his strokes seem a bit ... agricultural.

Here's a really strong JH drum track from his album with Jerry Goodman ... check out the near-Cobhamesque fill at 1:25 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pXlr8CfbQw ...

Maybe he took it as a second instrument at music college? Since he already played keys he would have been free to study any other instrument (hoping it's true :)
 
Amazing to have so much talent that you can seemingly play drums right from day one, even if his strokes seem a bit ... agricultural.

Here's a really strong JH drum track from his album with Jerry Goodman ... check out the near-Cobhamesque fill at 1:25 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pXlr8CfbQw ...

Maybe he took it as a second instrument at music college? Since he already played keys he would have been free to study any other instrument (hoping it's true :)

was just playing this track from Jeff Beck Live With The Jan Hammer Group.
 
was just playing this track from Jeff Beck Live With The Jan Hammer Group.

If I remember rightly, that album had Tony Smith on drums.

No one ever talks about Tony Smith, but I saw him playing with John McLaughlin's One Truth Band decades ago and the drumming and drum sound was probably the impressive I've ever heard live - and I've seen players like Terry Bozzio, Cozy Powell and Don Moye.

Mmm, or maybe it was Colin Walcott playing with Oregan? (though he was mostly playing tabla)
 
If I remember rightly, that album had Tony Smith on drums.

No one ever talks about Tony Smith, but I saw him playing with John McLaughlin's One Truth Band decades ago and the drumming and drum sound was probably the impressive I've ever heard live - and I've seen players like Terry Bozzio, Cozy Powell and Don Moye.

Mmm, or maybe it was Colin Walcott playing with Oregan? (though he was mostly playing tabla)

you are correct. it was Tony Smith, who also sings it on that album.
 
further digression. can you recommend an Oregon track or two ?

can you tell i'm a beat behind ? in the next post, i'll follow up on the One Truth Rhythm Band.

I had an album of theirs a long time ago but forgot the tracks. I much preferred them live ... I walked out of the gig floating on air. I've seen a few clips on YouTube but the sound quality of sound just capture the gorgeosity.
 
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