Thanks so much for this interview with one of my favorite keyboard players. Jan Hammer is a legend and has helped shape music throughout the 1970's and beyond. I'm surprised nobody has done a complete documentary about him.
Saw Jan with Mahavishnu in late '73. There is no one...NO one...that has his sound. As soon as his fingers touch a keyboard, you know, and that is regardless of the instrument. He can play three notes on a Rhodes and the sound is there. One of my all time favorites!
Saw Mahavishnu right after Inner Mounting Flame was released in a small ~250 seat club on the Syracuse University campus. I was familiar with John's prior work, but *nothing* could have prepared me for that show. I sat about 10 feet from the stage and the entire band played with a literally unbelievable level of virtuosity.
I saw that tour probably the next night at Morristown College. Tiny venue, sitting on the floor 10 feet, left side of the stage. I was also completely blown away. In fact, I was trying to learn guitar at the time, gave it up that night. I had just seen the best guitar performance possible, why bother. I was 14.
No question. You mean from the 1975 love album? Track #1?I had to hear that live version of "Freeway Jam" every day in high school. The middle part with Jan is wild. Jeff Beck of course really tears it up. 🙏🌪️🌘☄️RIP
Dude. Jan Hammer was playing with Sarah Vaughan and others throughout the '60s, but it was John McLaughlin's band The Mahavishnu Orchestra that introduced him to the world. MO were huge. Jeff Beck and co were support regularly in the early 70's. Then Mahavishnu Orchestra would come on and blow everyone into outer/inner space. For an encore, John McLaughlin would invite Jeff Beck would come on and they'd jam for a good hour. Man, those would have been some gigs to have gone to....le sigh. After the first line up of MO disbanded, Jan went on to do some stuff with Jeff Beck. If you haven't heard those early MO albums with the first line up (Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, & Between Nothingness And Eternity), basically everything that Jeff Beck brought out afterwards, for a few years, was heavily inspired by John McLaughlin. Blow By Blow, produced by George Martin because Jeff wanted him after finding out he'd produced one of the MO albums...Wired, featuring at least three ex MO members...Guitar Shop, the closest thing to sounding like an MO album etc etc. So, you know Jeff Beck and you know Jan Hammer, but John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu Orchestra passed you by? Forgive me if I'm wrong. But, if I'm not, and you've not heard MO...decent video gig footage on RUclips is rare....search Hope/One Word live.....also...live 1972 BBC....and the first 3 albums (line up mark 1) listed earlier are available and incredible listening.
@@frankbrancatisano217 Brother you are most welcome. Oh man. McLaughlin was this North Yorkshire jazz guy who discovered Hendrix and LSD then got brought into the Miles Davis band for those amazing albums In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew (yeh, that's John vamping away on an electrified acoustic). Then was ready to create his own band the Mahavishnu Orchestra, bringing together virtuosos Jerry Goodman (violin), Jan Hammer (keys), Rick Laird (bass) and Billy Cobham (drums). Had stopped doing the LSD, now into hardcore meditation. For the second line up auditions, McLaughlin invited Michael Walden (drums) to his house and suggested they meditate together. They sat facing. Walden was distracted by the sound of drip....drip....drip...until he opened his eyes and realised it was the sound of tears falling from McLaughlin's face. Sheez...the guy was switched on. And like Coltrane, had this total need to express the Inexpressible through music. Anyway....blah. Blah blah blah that's me. Please just stick on the first album Inner Mounting Flame. If you don't like it, then it aint for you.
I was at that Moog Fest at BB Kings. Met Jan, Keith, Jordan...Adam Holzman was covering some parts for Jan. He was really happy, but doesn't really like being fussed over. It was keyboardist heaven! Rick Laird was there...Rest in Peace to Rick, Keith, Jeff Beck...True Heroes! Thanks for the interview.
Tasteful manipulation of the modulation wheel too, if I may add. I had been listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra "Birds Of Fire" for years (I'm referring to the title track) thinking that both solo passages were played by John McLaughlin on overdriven guitar. That long sustained crying note at the end of the first short phrase of that second solo - pitch bent - certain middle frequencies break through, making it sound like a fuzzed out guitar string aggressively struck then bent. And the rest of that profound solo, the guy is pitch wheeling the notes, getting the exact feel of McLaughlin (or...spirit of Jimi). It certainly fooled me. I think the idea was to get the sound so "soul mated" to McLaughlin's guitar, it sounds like possibly the Moog synth is patched into McLaughlin's Marshall amp and whatever fuzz unit John was using (I forget - pretty sure it wasn't a FuzzFace like Jimi's - the bloody name escapes me - googlegoogle - that's it - the "Maestro FuzzTone" - to overdrive, heat and dirty up the signal). In retrospect, and now that I know, the giveaway is the last few seconds of that solo - the unusually wide vibrato - that is classic Moog modulation wheel (I used to have a Moog Rogue and could get the same bonkers super-wide vibrato using that big old notched plastic mod wheel situated right beside the pitch wheel)...I f***king loved that Moog, it was the budget synth brought out in early 80's but you could still get it to sing and scream and wail like a Minimoog, and it played bass tones that could punch you in the stomach, it was bloody awesome. You sound like a synth man, forgive my endless waffle if I got that wrong
I saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra in concert in about 1975 at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA,I was a junior in high school. At that time violinist Jean Luc Ponty was a part of the band. What an amazing concert! My friends and I had been listening to MO’s albums Birds of Fire The Inner amounting Flame which were awesome. To hear this music live was a visceral feeling of wonderment. My favorite childhood memories was going to concerts in the 1970’s.
Lucky you, wow..I was born in 70 so I missed the 70's concerts. Let's see...1975..so I guess they were performing stuff from Emerald Beyond, Inner Worlds and a smattering of rather eccentric flamboyant versions of the early mark 1 line up pieces? 1975 was line up 3 I guess...Jean Luc Ponty gone...Stu Goldberg on keys, Walden on drums and Armstrong on fretless bass, yes? There's a lot more line up mark 1 live stuff on RUclips, and a fair bit of mark 2 live concerts performing Apocalypse but there are one or two great gigs around '75 including a Boston Hall gig. Crazy...very different to the familiar line up mark 1 live gigs. There's a certain amount of...zany. Stu Goldberg certainly likes to push the envelope with Hawkwind - y soic attack white noise bleeps and bloops, and he's SO BLOODY LOUD, not shy about it at all. A small horn section... Things seem to descend into chaos then Walden just kicks in and something dazzling happens. The audio recording of 1975 Boston Hall is okay, not great, and sometimes makes me really wish I'd been there to get the full impact, because it doesn't always translate well over little hifi speakers, eg the introduction piece Eternity's Breath. I'm not sure if it's on the Boston recording, or on the other awesome 1975 gig I downloaded and don't know where it is now - a staggeringly beautiful mournful performance of Sanctuary. It is achingly beautiful, a piece of music where the silences between the notes are played as expressively as the notes themselves. It pulls the listener into its depths. The first time in a long time I felt genuinely FLOORED by a piece of music. Enough rambling, I hope you don't feel I've wasted your time. Regards from the UK
So jealous. Would love to go back in a time capsule to see my fave fusion band, the early Mahavishnu, and the duet he did with Carlos " Love Devotion Surrender"
I have a story about hearing Mahavishnu. I was intoxicated and I was listening in my brother's room to this bootleg record. I didn't really catch the band name, but my mind was blown, and apparently my brother remembered. So the next day he says "Hey do you want this 8-track of Mahavisnu Orchestra?". I didn't really remember what he was talking about, but I eagerly took this strange 8-track called Birds of Fire. I could not figure out what I was listening to but I was into Jeff Beck and had heard Jan play with him on his live album and Wired and I loved it. Finally I understood that this was some sort of Jazz. When I heard the sone One Word and the trading 4's then trading 2's then 1's then ridiculous everyone going nuts, then the drum solo. OMG I just was amazed and became a huge fan, and got every record. The bootleg had Jan playing stuff off the Inner Flame album but with the Moog. It was just otherworldly to hear. Then I got the first Seven Days and heard the original version Earth in Search of the Sun. That song just freaks me out, it's my favorite jam. It's just way out in space and takes me somewhere else, and I get my freak out. I guess my brother told me it was Jan Hammer when we listened to the bootleg so I was paying attention, but I didn't get the band name, and kind of forgot the experience because I was so wasted.
Jan Hammer’s The First Seven Days has been such an influence on me. This is music that you don’t hear any more and probably never will again. Only a musician of the highest calibre could have thought of and executed such music.
loved it too, I bought this vinyl in Poland in communist times where was impossible to buy western music in the shops.I was lucky to get it on "black market" for big money ( average 2 weeks wages)
Friend, there are a few of us still holding the fire. And on RUclips and IRL, King Crimson are still playing extraordinary stuff. And related bands like Liquid Tension Experiment (Tony Levin of KC on bass and Chapman Stick)...check Liquid Tension Experiment live in LA on youtube. It's dazzling virtuoso playing by the seasoned old school best (like Tony Levin ofc) and is a lot of fun, very spirited
I agree! The day he "taught" me how he approached the part he played in Jeff Beck's "Star Cycle" was a brain-twisting moment... but in the end it made sense!
I don’t get all these people that are constantly saying “so and so are underrated” ………what’s the point? Enjoy the music or not ……who cares about ratings and popularity, etc…..
The great Jan Hammer 🔨 👏 Man, I love him so much, like all of you. I'm so glad I found this interview. I just wish they had followed up on al Di Meola and Neal Schon. But it was great 👍 Thank you Jan and friends ❤. 🕉
Nice interview, the first I've listened to with him. Thanks. His answers to the fine questions were insightful and intelligent. Coming from a keyboard background, yes guitar picks you up and carries you away. Oh, the sounds you can get... As a teenage keyboardist, Star Cycle was one of my favourite songs, I played it loud. As an adult guitarist, Star Cycle is one of my favourite songs, I play it loud. @ 43:20 "I actually used a PC, God forgive me". "Happens to the best of us, Jan". LOL.
It would take a monster band to intimidate the enormously talented Emerson, Lake and Palmer in their prime, but having seen MO live, I could see it. Yes' Bill Bruford was astonished at their musicianship upon seeing them for the first time and told the rest of the band, "We need to practice a LOT more." Their overpowering virtuosity utterly exhausted audiences, but the music was not as accessible as other bands which contributed to their relative lack of sales. Their influence, however, was extraordinary. Very similar to Allan Holdsworth, a band of musician's musicians, revered by their colleagues but largely invisible to the general public who would never hear this on Sirius/XM or Spotify. You have to know these folks.
True and Sad about that, especially Holdsworth, who didk’t fare as well as Mcglaughlin, and in the end was renting a room from his sound man, when he died. RIP AH
Jon Anderson said he was the one that said they had to practice a lot more after watching King Crimson play. Angie Bowie met David at that same Crimso Gig.
@@rickvenlo1362 true! And just because he was perhaps the most original guitarist ever, that alone does not guarantee popular success and financial security. I just wish that some of the rich rockstars who praised Allan could have created a fund to help him out. But even if they did, he may not have accepted it.
Thank you, Jan, for not touring for the right reasons. Your music is whatever you play, whenever, -- always better than almost any one else in history. But you also play killer for other peoples stuff!!! You always find the miraculous path in your improvisation. Man! Thanks so much Gib Gab!
What a fantastic interview! Love how you got Jan to open up and his enthusiasm is contagious. Privileged to have seen him play in several iterations over the years. Did not realize or forgot he played drums and i have that awesome Carlos S./John M. album on vinyl. And that story of sitting in on drums at last minute to find Jaco and Pat M. playing with him - wow! Thanks.
Really nice interview. Great questions and flow of ideas. Felt like a fun conversation between friends/ I love how humble Jan is and his reverence for the amazing people he's played and collaborated with over the years. Jan's playing is woven into my DNA from so many iterations. His work with John Abercrombie, Elvin Jones etc was all spectacular too.
His drumming is solid and...okay..(come on, we have been spoiled by the wonders of Billy Cobham and Narada Michael Walden, surely). I remember that album! :) Compared to what Jerry and Jan had been doing just previously, it's nothing outstanding, and I really don't think it's meant to be. It's relatively simplistic but lots of fun and with lots of heart and love, like children. I remember it felt fresh. A lot tamer and easier on the ears than Mahavishnu Orchestra, but still really good! Ahh you made me wanna check it out again after all these years. Thank you :)
Jan is a very impressive musician and composer. I saw him live with Jeff Beck in 1976 in Des Moines twice. He stole the show both times and engaged in some epic call and response battles with Jeff.
Thank God for your work with The Mahavishnu Orchestra. It is my origin story and After having lessons with Al Di Meola I had the privilege of taking lessons from rick Laird. I love your work and am grateful for having heard it, especially "Between Nothingness and Eternity. Life altering stuff~!
Starting out with "Take The "A" Train"...amazing. The classics. Now that Jeff Beck has just left us. The younger generation after Joe Zawinul, with similar roots.
I was at the first Maha gig at Gas Light au Go Go on 8/21/71. they were opening for John Lee Hooker, who at the time had a mostly white band of mostly grade B white blues players, and played for a mostly white college kid crowd. It was not a great period for John Lee. We knew about John M and his capacity from T Williams Lifetime and Miles, and knew about Jan from his playing w Jeremy Stieg. We had no idea what this new band was, that Jan was in it, just it was McLaughlin's new band after the My Goals Beyond acoustic LP. It was exactly as Jan describes here @ 18:15 - the crowd was in a state of shock. It was a mainly white college kid blues crowd w a few Jazz Snobs (we thought they were critics) in the back acting offended it wasn't "real jazz", and we very few informed early era jazz rock listeners and players. It was like that old Memorex ad where the guy is sitting in a chair with the wind blowing his hair and clothes back - the crowd was in complete and absolute shock and stunned silence. when they finally went into that quasi blues beat in Dance of Maya, many audience members started nodding their heads , as they were finally hearing something remotely "normal" for them, then it went into the turbo drive chorus (lol) and they looked stunned and lost again. It was a true quantum leap in music, much like the crowd that first saw Jimi at one of those Monkees concerts in 1967.
Great story, you were in the right place at the right time. I saw the MO in April 1973 in an old movie theater with great acoustics, but must admit I didn't understand the music. I may not understand it now but can't get enough live Mahavishnu on youtube.
@@kik1qa I have to listen to Quadrant 4 several times a week to keep my heart beating, and while the needle's down on the vinyl there's no need to lift it.
Great interview! As someone who's taught electronic basics most of my adult life, I was particularly interested in what he had to say about note bending (which, to my ear, NOBODY has mastered to the degree that Jan has). When he referred to the device that he used to bend notes on his electric piano (before he brought the Minimoog into Mahavishnu) he couldn't recall the exact name of it. It was, I believe, a Bode ring modulator. I think Chick Corea was using one for a while as well, when he was playing with Miles.
It really kicked My Ass as a 15 yr Old Drummer ,to Hear the Drum Track he put on Tommy Bolin's People People , not fair to be that Great a Musician ;Keyboards and Drums Wow .
Before playing the mini-moog with the Mahavishnu Orchestra Jan talked about a garget that he played in conjunction with his Fender Rhodes electric piano. You can see Jan playing the garget in the video, which is uploaded on You tube, of the MO's concert on the campus of Syracuse University. The discussion also talked about the keyboards sounding like a guitar. The track titled; "Going Far" on the Tony Williams album "Fear of Flying" feature Tony and Jan where Jan's synth keyboard sounds like an electric guitar.
Emerson using the modular as a thing just for the show? Dear Jan listen to the lucky man solo or the aqua_tarkus live piece both are fantastic displays of moog play! I just had to say it😊
Jan Hammer....what a musician !!! After Mahavishnu orchestra, he came up with the own album, I can not remember the name of unfortunately, which was a master piece....I was particularly taken by the guitar work on it until I read on the cover of the album that " There is NO guitar on this album" !!! He did it all by him self ! I wish I could remember the name of the album now, since I've lost it years a go . Any one remembers the name of it ?!
It's the first Jan Hammer Group album, Oh Yeah (which is brilliant). He comments in the credits that he plays "a Moog-Oberheim combination that sounds a lot like a guitar," as I recall.
@@dhalgrentv7157 I can only speak to Oh Yeah and Black Sheep as I own both vinyl albums. The latter had the 'No Guitars' notice prominently on the jacket front, the former did not. I don't think there were any albums released between them.
A great lesser know record- Some Shapes To Come- Steve Grossman - I believe, done right after Mahavishnu, Jan plays elec. Piano and Moog- every cut is fantastic- just like there is some Bird in every jazz solo (generalizing a little) there is some Jan in every synth solo! Great show- thanks
Great interview, but why does no one get him to talk about his work with Elvin Jones, Don Alias & Gene Perla, Jeremy Stieg or Horacee Arnold? I’d love more about that early to mid 70’s work.
I remember him playing ' the first seven days' at the Bottom Line in NYC... Those low moog notes would rattle the chicken fingers off my dinner plate! LOL
The first big show I saw was Grand Funk Railroad. Then I got dragged to my second show: The Mahavishnu Orchestra. I didn't sleep for five days afterwards, and I didn't even know about drugs! Maybe not so oddly, the only other band that ever did that to me was Shakti.
back when the “pitch wheel” was ( still is) for expression. I remember waiting a high dollar Oberheim synth just to be able to play more than one note. Jan and Beck influenced that lead tone and style for many. thanks for the memories!
My second concert, Chandler Pavilion, Mahavishnu headlining over Loudon Wainwright and a classical sextet. Maybe Jan doesn't realize, but that silence after the songs was us catching our breaths after hearing the loudest and clearest music EVER. Also, the hit of Purple Microdot I am sure half the crowd (and I) was on contributed as well!!! Except for The Who, most of the concerts the rest of my life were all downhill after that one. Easily the most incredible musical experience of my life. Jan, John, and Jerry would somehow make all their instruments...Moog, Guitar, and Electric Violin, respectively, sound like the same voice. Except for maybe Keith, Manfred Mann, and mostly Jan...nobody solos like those guys did on a Moog, or Arp...oh yeah...George Duke these days!!! Most use the synths like a bass machine or sound efx. Thanks Jan for the wonderful influence you had on me starting when I was a teenager in the '70!!!😁🤩😎
@@ChromaticHarp Actually, he couldn't be heard over the soloing monsters (just kidding)....really, can you imagine a drummer like Mr Cobham being overshadowed??? Saw him here in Eugene some years later. Could hear him then!!!😍🤩😎
@@ChromaticHarp btw..the LSD brought clarity like I have never experienced since. I remember that concert more clearly than most others. That was 1973!!! Only those who don't know could give such a remark?😎
@@saxmidiman I was in high school in 1973 when I saw the Mahavishnu orch in Central Park (Shaffer music festival) A Truly draw dropping experience. I was probably just smiling weed and drinking Shaffer Beer 🍺 but durning that era it was also acid, mescaline, ‘Shrooms, PCP, Qualuudes, tuninol, Seconal, Glue, Blow…wgatever…
" You cannot have a hot band without a guitar". Having seen the Jan Hammer Group several times as a trio back in the late 70's or early 80's, I have to disagree! They were terrific, and bassist Colin Hodgkinson was an absolute knockout. On "Darkness/Earch In Search Of A Sun", the drink glasses on our table were rattling and shimmering across the table from the bass notes, and they played a smoking version of "Manic Depression". I also remember they played Robert Johnson's "Hellhound On My Trail", and Hodgkinson played a solo bass guitar version of "Preachin' Blues" that was a tour-de-force. At one of the shows, some a-hole stole one of Jan's effects pedals, and that put a bit of a damper on the show.
at 32:15 Jan mentions playing along with Elvin Jones recordings -- a shame neither he nor the hosts mention the great session Jan recorded with Elvin and bassist Gene Perla, "On the Mountain" ... you can find it here on uTube in any band with exceptional players, there's going to be friendly competition and I've always felt that Jan's brilliant solo on the "Birds of Fire" song actually "out-guitars" John's solo ... also, a bit of a stretch, perhaps, just to outdo "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" -- in 19, I believe -- Jan offers "Twenty One" -- in 21 -- on his "Oh Yeah" album (on which Jan also plays some drums) thanks for this tremendous interview
I got a call out of the blue one evening right when I walked in the door. It was February 28, 2008. The voice said " Hello, may I speak to Andy Okus?". And I replied " this is Andy ". Then the guy said " This is David Sancious ". And I went " Wow!, DAVID SANCIOUS ". Then he hollered at me, " Andy I've called you 7 times today!" You know like really pissed. But I chilled him out and I went on to have one of the greatest conversations of my life with THE Greatest Mini-moog player and genius Jazz-rock composer next to none. I don't want to insult Jan Hammer but some people just aren't nice people you dig? And I've played with the biggest names in Hollywood and the Jazz-rock world. Let me just say check out the rare but brilliant album he made with David Earle Johnson " Time Is Free ".That's where all the ideas for his later famous work came from.
Juju or ju-ju is a spiritual belief system incorporating objects, such as amulets, and spells used in religious practice in West Africa by the people of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Congo and Cameroon. The term has been applied to traditional African religions. - so he must be talking about a style of music popular among the Yoruba in Nigeria and characterized by the use of guitars and variable-pitch drums maybe?
Some BS from Jan. I saw Mahaviishnu and ELP in Denver ( had never heard either band ) and when Mahavishnu left the stage there was no clappiing - because they sounded terrible. The newspaper the next day just crushed them. ELP, on the other hand, were great. Saw Mahavishnu in Boulder a year later and they were excellent.
Shame. No mention of Tommy Bolin collab with Billy Cobham on his Spectrum LP. Lacks the jazz pretense and is where Jan's "hot" guitar fixation gelled. Jeff Beck couldnt get past it so he made Blow by Blow. Cobham & Hammer badly needed Bolin to finally ROCK jazz again.
Thanks so much for this interview with one of my favorite keyboard players. Jan Hammer is a legend and has helped shape music throughout the 1970's and beyond. I'm surprised nobody has done a complete documentary about him.
Saw Jan with Mahavishnu in late '73. There is no one...NO one...that has his sound. As soon as his fingers touch a keyboard, you know, and that is regardless of the instrument. He can play three notes on a Rhodes and the sound is there. One of my all time favorites!
Saw Mahavishnu right after Inner Mounting Flame was released in a small ~250 seat club on the Syracuse University campus. I was familiar with John's prior work, but *nothing* could have prepared me for that show. I sat about 10 feet from the stage and the entire band played with a literally unbelievable level of virtuosity.
I saw that tour probably the next night at Morristown College. Tiny venue, sitting on the floor 10 feet, left side of the stage. I was also completely blown away. In fact, I was trying to learn guitar at the time, gave it up that night. I had just seen the best guitar performance possible, why bother. I was 14.
You were Blessed my friend !
Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer live playing Freeway Jan is incredible. I love this track. A real trip.
No question. You mean from the 1975 love album? Track #1?I had to hear that live version of "Freeway Jam" every day in high school. The middle part with Jan is wild. Jeff Beck of course really tears it up. 🙏🌪️🌘☄️RIP
Yes. Track1 from jeff beck and jan hammer group live. I can hear trucks train sirens etc. I dont believe. Make we feel inside of a car.
Love that album....definitely had the juju going on.
Billy Cobham Spectrum first w the most
@@kik1qa with Tommy Bolin in guitar. Very good
Thankyou again Jeff Beck ( RIP ) for introducing us to a brilliant keyboard player , Jan Hammer
Thank you.
Dude. Jan Hammer was playing with Sarah Vaughan and others throughout the '60s, but it was John McLaughlin's band The Mahavishnu Orchestra that introduced him to the world. MO were huge. Jeff Beck and co were support regularly in the early 70's. Then Mahavishnu Orchestra would come on and blow everyone into outer/inner space. For an encore, John McLaughlin would invite Jeff Beck would come on and they'd jam for a good hour. Man, those would have been some gigs to have gone to....le sigh. After the first line up of MO disbanded, Jan went on to do some stuff with Jeff Beck. If you haven't heard those early MO albums with the first line up (Inner Mounting Flame, Birds of Fire, & Between Nothingness And Eternity), basically everything that Jeff Beck brought out afterwards, for a few years, was heavily inspired by John McLaughlin. Blow By Blow, produced by George Martin because Jeff wanted him after finding out he'd produced one of the MO albums...Wired, featuring at least three ex MO members...Guitar Shop, the closest thing to sounding like an MO album etc etc.
So, you know Jeff Beck and you know Jan Hammer, but John McLaughlin and The Mahavishnu Orchestra passed you by? Forgive me if I'm wrong. But, if I'm not, and you've not heard MO...decent video gig footage on RUclips is rare....search Hope/One Word live.....also...live 1972 BBC....and the first 3 albums (line up mark 1) listed earlier are available and incredible listening.
@@uberbeast113 Thankyou for that info really appreciate it , cheers 👍
@@frankbrancatisano217 Brother you are most welcome. Oh man. McLaughlin was this North Yorkshire jazz guy who discovered Hendrix and LSD then got brought into the Miles Davis band for those amazing albums In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew (yeh, that's John vamping away on an electrified acoustic). Then was ready to create his own band the Mahavishnu Orchestra, bringing together virtuosos Jerry Goodman (violin), Jan Hammer (keys), Rick Laird (bass) and Billy Cobham (drums). Had stopped doing the LSD, now into hardcore meditation. For the second line up auditions, McLaughlin invited Michael Walden (drums) to his house and suggested they meditate together. They sat facing. Walden was distracted by the sound of drip....drip....drip...until he opened his eyes and realised it was the sound of tears falling from McLaughlin's face. Sheez...the guy was switched on. And like Coltrane, had this total need to express the Inexpressible through music.
Anyway....blah. Blah blah blah that's me. Please just stick on the first album Inner Mounting Flame. If you don't like it, then it aint for you.
I was at that Moog Fest at BB Kings. Met Jan, Keith, Jordan...Adam Holzman was covering some parts for Jan. He was really happy, but doesn't really like being fussed over. It was keyboardist heaven! Rick Laird was there...Rest in Peace to Rick, Keith, Jeff Beck...True Heroes! Thanks for the interview.
Not to minimize Jan Hammer's range of musical gifts, but nobody, nobody could bend pitches on a synthesizer like Jan.
Well, Patrick Moraz gives him a run for his money now and then --see Yes, "Soundchaser," for example, or the Refugee album.
Tasteful manipulation of the modulation wheel too, if I may add. I had been listening to Mahavishnu Orchestra "Birds Of Fire" for years (I'm referring to the title track) thinking that both solo passages were played by John McLaughlin on overdriven guitar. That long sustained crying note at the end of the first short phrase of that second solo - pitch bent - certain middle frequencies break through, making it sound like a fuzzed out guitar string aggressively struck then bent. And the rest of that profound solo, the guy is pitch wheeling the notes, getting the exact feel of McLaughlin (or...spirit of Jimi). It certainly fooled me. I think the idea was to get the sound so "soul mated" to McLaughlin's guitar, it sounds like possibly the Moog synth is patched into McLaughlin's Marshall amp and whatever fuzz unit John was using (I forget - pretty sure it wasn't a FuzzFace like Jimi's - the bloody name escapes me - googlegoogle - that's it - the "Maestro FuzzTone" - to overdrive, heat and dirty up the signal). In retrospect, and now that I know, the giveaway is the last few seconds of that solo - the unusually wide vibrato - that is classic Moog modulation wheel (I used to have a Moog Rogue and could get the same bonkers super-wide vibrato using that big old notched plastic mod wheel situated right beside the pitch wheel)...I f***king loved that Moog, it was the budget synth brought out in early 80's but you could still get it to sing and scream and wail like a Minimoog, and it played bass tones that could punch you in the stomach, it was bloody awesome.
You sound like a synth man, forgive my endless waffle if I got that wrong
Cory Henry with Snarky Puppy. His solo on Lingus definitely gives him a run for his money.
@@teddavidcompositions3744 That's for sure true.
IMO, Jan essentially developed the full repertoire of single line synth soloing. I've never heard any other player who can compare.
Great interview with one of the true giants of music!
I saw the Mahavishnu Orchestra in concert in about 1975 at Royce Hall on the campus of UCLA,I was a junior in high school. At that time violinist Jean Luc Ponty was a part of the band. What an amazing concert! My friends and I had been listening to MO’s albums Birds of Fire The Inner amounting Flame which were awesome. To hear this music live was a visceral feeling of wonderment. My favorite childhood memories was going to concerts in the 1970’s.
Lucky you, wow..I was born in 70 so I missed the 70's concerts. Let's see...1975..so I guess they were performing stuff from Emerald Beyond, Inner Worlds and a smattering of rather eccentric flamboyant versions of the early mark 1 line up pieces? 1975 was line up 3 I guess...Jean Luc Ponty gone...Stu Goldberg on keys, Walden on drums and Armstrong on fretless bass, yes? There's a lot more line up mark 1 live stuff on RUclips, and a fair bit of mark 2 live concerts performing Apocalypse but there are one or two great gigs around '75 including a Boston Hall gig. Crazy...very different to the familiar line up mark 1 live gigs. There's a certain amount of...zany. Stu Goldberg certainly likes to push the envelope with Hawkwind - y soic attack white noise bleeps and bloops, and he's SO BLOODY LOUD, not shy about it at all. A small horn section... Things seem to descend into chaos then Walden just kicks in and something dazzling happens. The audio recording of 1975 Boston Hall is okay, not great, and sometimes makes me really wish I'd been there to get the full impact, because it doesn't always translate well over little hifi speakers, eg the introduction piece Eternity's Breath.
I'm not sure if it's on the Boston recording, or on the other awesome 1975 gig I downloaded and don't know where it is now - a staggeringly beautiful mournful performance of Sanctuary. It is achingly beautiful, a piece of music where the silences between the notes are played as expressively as the notes themselves. It pulls the listener into its depths. The first time in a long time I felt genuinely FLOORED by a piece of music.
Enough rambling, I hope you don't feel I've wasted your time. Regards from the UK
So jealous. Would love to go back in a time capsule to see my fave fusion band, the early Mahavishnu, and the duet he did with Carlos " Love Devotion Surrender"
I have a story about hearing Mahavishnu. I was intoxicated and I was listening in my brother's room to this bootleg record. I didn't really catch the band name, but my mind was blown, and apparently my brother remembered. So the next day he says "Hey do you want this 8-track of Mahavisnu Orchestra?". I didn't really remember what he was talking about, but I eagerly took this strange 8-track called Birds of Fire. I could not figure out what I was listening to but I was into Jeff Beck and had heard Jan play with him on his live album and Wired and I loved it. Finally I understood that this was some sort of Jazz. When I heard the sone One Word and the trading 4's then trading 2's then 1's then ridiculous everyone going nuts, then the drum solo. OMG I just was amazed and became a huge fan, and got every record. The bootleg had Jan playing stuff off the Inner Flame album but with the Moog. It was just otherworldly to hear. Then I got the first Seven Days and heard the original version Earth in Search of the Sun. That song just freaks me out, it's my favorite jam. It's just way out in space and takes me somewhere else, and I get my freak out. I guess my brother told me it was Jan Hammer when we listened to the bootleg so I was paying attention, but I didn't get the band name, and kind of forgot the experience because I was so wasted.
One Word is insane. I want that bootleg!
Great interview with Mr. Jan Hammer; one of my favorites. Love all is music and I have both albums with him and Neil.
👍👏👏🔨🎹
Mahavishnu-Like Children
💓
Jan Hammer & Jeff Beck
🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸
Jan Hammer’s The First Seven Days has been such an influence on me. This is music that you don’t hear any more and probably never will again. Only a musician of the highest calibre could have thought of and executed such music.
Fantastic album!
loved it too, I bought this vinyl in Poland in communist times where was impossible to buy western music in the shops.I was lucky to get it on "black market" for big money ( average 2 weeks wages)
Friend, there are a few of us still holding the fire. And on RUclips and IRL, King Crimson are still playing extraordinary stuff. And related bands like Liquid Tension Experiment (Tony Levin of KC on bass and Chapman Stick)...check Liquid Tension Experiment live in LA on youtube. It's dazzling virtuoso playing by the seasoned old school best (like Tony Levin ofc) and is a lot of fun, very spirited
You said it well. Yea you can’t hear music of this authenticity and imagination now.
Great to hear Jan talking about his drumming... which is also very unique and powerful.
I agree! The day he "taught" me how he approached the part he played in Jeff Beck's "Star Cycle" was a brain-twisting moment... but in the end it made sense!
Somehow feel that Hammer has been underrated all these years.
@@jg6698 How about this particular statistic?
I don’t get all these people that are constantly saying “so and so are underrated” ………what’s the point? Enjoy the music or not ……who cares about ratings and popularity, etc…..
Underrated? Not by anyone I know! If anything he’s revered by the masses as one of the greats!
Not really he hasn't Legend
@@ChromaticHarp Dude is as Legendary as it gets
A staggeringly talented musician. He’s played so much great stuff over the years.
The great Jan Hammer 🔨 👏
Man, I love him so much, like all of you.
I'm so glad I found this interview.
I just wish they had followed up on al Di Meola and Neal Schon.
But it was great 👍
Thank you Jan and friends ❤. 🕉
Fascinating discussion! Jan is such a cool guy in addition to being a musical legend!
Nice interview, the first I've listened to with him. Thanks. His answers to the fine questions were insightful and intelligent.
Coming from a keyboard background, yes guitar picks you up and carries you away. Oh, the sounds you can get...
As a teenage keyboardist, Star Cycle was one of my favourite songs, I played it loud. As an adult guitarist, Star Cycle is one of my favourite songs, I play it loud.
@ 43:20 "I actually used a PC, God forgive me". "Happens to the best of us, Jan". LOL.
It would take a monster band to intimidate the enormously talented Emerson, Lake and Palmer in their prime, but having seen MO live, I could see it. Yes' Bill Bruford was astonished at their musicianship upon seeing them for the first time and told the rest of the band, "We need to practice a LOT more." Their overpowering virtuosity utterly exhausted audiences, but the music was not as accessible as other bands which contributed to their relative lack of sales. Their influence, however, was extraordinary. Very similar to Allan Holdsworth, a band of musician's musicians, revered by their colleagues but largely invisible to the general public who would never hear this on Sirius/XM or Spotify. You have to know these folks.
True and Sad about that, especially Holdsworth, who didk’t fare as well as Mcglaughlin, and in the end was renting a room from his sound man, when he died. RIP AH
Excellent points.
Jon Anderson said he was the one that said they had to practice a lot more after watching King Crimson play.
Angie Bowie met David at that same Crimso Gig.
@@ChromaticHarp Holzworth was never willing to play the gallery
@@rickvenlo1362 true! And just because he was perhaps the most original guitarist ever, that alone does not guarantee popular success and financial security. I just wish that some of the rich rockstars who praised Allan could have created a fund to help him out. But even if they did, he may not have accepted it.
Thank you, Jan, for not touring for the right reasons. Your music is whatever you play, whenever, -- always better than almost any one else in history. But you also play killer for other peoples stuff!!! You always find the miraculous path in your improvisation. Man!
Thanks so much Gib Gab!
What a fantastic interview! Love how you got Jan to open up and his enthusiasm is contagious. Privileged to have seen him play in several iterations over the years. Did not realize or forgot he played drums and i have that awesome Carlos S./John M. album on vinyl. And that story of sitting in on drums at last minute to find Jaco and Pat M. playing with him - wow! Thanks.
Great interview, Jan is the man! Not only do I love his stuff with Mahavishnu, but I also love his contribution on those Al Di Meola records.
I'm a Hammer fan going back to the early 80's when I was a teenager. If his name was there, I bought it. One of my favorite musicians of all time.
Really nice interview. Great questions and flow of ideas. Felt like a fun conversation between friends/ I love how humble Jan is and his reverence for the amazing people he's played and collaborated with over the years. Jan's playing is woven into my DNA from so many iterations. His work with John Abercrombie, Elvin Jones etc was all spectacular too.
Thanks! What a talented fellow,sure love his albums w Beck and Schon,plus everything else
His album "Like Children" with Jerry Goodman is one of my all-time favorites. In addition to his unique keyboard work, his drumming is incredible.
His drumming is solid and...okay..(come on, we have been spoiled by the wonders of Billy Cobham and Narada Michael Walden, surely).
I remember that album! :) Compared to what Jerry and Jan had been doing just previously, it's nothing outstanding, and I really don't think it's meant to be. It's relatively simplistic but lots of fun and with lots of heart and love, like children. I remember it felt fresh. A lot tamer and easier on the ears than Mahavishnu Orchestra, but still really good! Ahh you made me wanna check it out again after all these years. Thank you :)
thanks for the tip, i did not know about 'Like Children': it blew me away at the first listening.
“I Remember Me.”
@@billypreston...I only listen to that album for the track...Night...
Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer Live is one of the greatest live albums of all time.
Keeps my MOJO going on
Jan is a very impressive musician and composer. I saw him live with Jeff Beck in 1976 in Des Moines twice. He stole the show both times and engaged in some epic call and response battles with Jeff.
Thank God for your work with The Mahavishnu Orchestra. It is my origin story and After having lessons with Al Di Meola I had the privilege of taking lessons from rick Laird.
I love your work and am grateful for having heard it, especially "Between Nothingness and Eternity. Life altering stuff~!
Listened to Jan over and over on Mahavishnu and Jeff Beck albums. First saw him live on BBC in 1973. Wonderful musician.
Fantastic hearing from Jan. Thank you for the gig gab with him😎
Jan is one of the best keyboard player and musicians of all time and
he was made for playing the Mini Moog!
Oh brother!
You just asked about Neal Schon!
Awesome, thanks 😊 🙏
Thank you for this interview!
You're welcome! We loved doing it!!
Starting out with "Take The "A" Train"...amazing. The classics. Now that Jeff Beck has just left us. The younger generation after Joe Zawinul, with similar roots.
I was at the first Maha gig at Gas Light au Go Go on 8/21/71. they were opening for John Lee Hooker, who at the time had a mostly white band of mostly grade B white blues players, and played for a mostly white college kid crowd. It was not a great period for John Lee. We knew about John M and his capacity from T Williams Lifetime and Miles, and knew about Jan from his playing w Jeremy Stieg. We had no idea what this new band was, that Jan was in it, just it was McLaughlin's new band after the My Goals Beyond acoustic LP. It was exactly as Jan describes here @ 18:15 - the crowd was in a state of shock. It was a mainly white college kid blues crowd w a few Jazz Snobs (we thought they were critics) in the back acting offended it wasn't "real jazz", and we very few informed early era jazz rock listeners and players. It was like that old Memorex ad where the guy is sitting in a chair with the wind blowing his hair and clothes back - the crowd was in complete and absolute shock and stunned silence. when they finally went into that quasi blues beat in Dance of Maya, many audience members started nodding their heads , as they were finally hearing something remotely "normal" for them, then it went into the turbo drive chorus (lol) and they looked stunned and lost again. It was a true quantum leap in music, much like the crowd that first saw Jimi at one of those Monkees concerts in 1967.
Great story, you were in the right place at the right time. I saw the MO in April 1973 in an old movie theater with great acoustics, but must admit I didn't understand the music. I may not understand it now but can't get enough live Mahavishnu on youtube.
Except nobody listens to M.O.
Hammer's apex: Spectrum Billy Cobham. Blow by Blow ur welcome
@@kik1qa I have to listen to Quadrant 4 several times a week to keep my heart beating, and while the needle's down on the vinyl there's no need to lift it.
Fantastic interview! Amazing stories played drums with Jaco and Pat?? Insane
The First Seven Days ; still one of my favourites ! I saw the Jan Hammer Group at the El Mocambo in Toronto.
37:13 "You cannot have a hot band without a guitar" - - - Weather Report, anyone?
A notable exception, for sure!
Great interview! As someone who's taught electronic basics most of my adult life, I was particularly interested in what he had to say about note bending (which, to my ear, NOBODY has mastered to the degree that Jan has). When he referred to the device that he used to bend notes on his electric piano (before he brought the Minimoog into Mahavishnu) he couldn't recall the exact name of it. It was, I believe, a Bode ring modulator. I think Chick Corea was using one for a while as well, when he was playing with Miles.
Correct, the ring modulator gets major use on Inner Mounting Flame!
It really kicked My Ass as a 15 yr Old Drummer ,to Hear the Drum Track he put on Tommy Bolin's People People , not fair to be that Great a Musician ;Keyboards and Drums Wow .
the most incredible jazz rock keyboard player of his times ...
Before playing the mini-moog with the Mahavishnu Orchestra Jan talked about a garget that he played in conjunction with his Fender Rhodes electric piano. You can see Jan playing the garget in the video, which is uploaded on You tube, of the MO's concert on the campus of Syracuse University. The discussion also talked about the keyboards sounding like a guitar. The track titled; "Going Far" on the Tony Williams album "Fear of Flying" feature Tony and Jan where Jan's synth keyboard sounds like an electric guitar.
When I saw MO at the Rainbow Theatre in London in 1973 the response to their music was the same- Stunned silence, then long applause afterwards.
Great musician! Love his stuff. Thanks for this.
There are rough demo sessions he did with (Jaco and) Joni Mitchell of songs from the Mingus and Hissing of Summer Lawns albums. Well worth a listen.
Jan Hammer! My favorite MUSICIAN, all time!
Excellent Interview!
☆☆☆☆☆
😎
Emerson using the modular as a thing just for the show? Dear Jan listen to the lucky man solo or the aqua_tarkus live piece both are fantastic displays of moog play! I just had to say it😊
Jan Hammer....what a musician !!! After Mahavishnu orchestra, he came up with the own album, I can not remember the name of unfortunately, which was a master piece....I was particularly taken by the guitar work on it until I read on the cover of the album that " There is NO guitar on this album" !!! He did it all by him self ! I wish I could remember the name of the album now, since I've lost it years a go . Any one remembers the name of it ?!
It's the first Jan Hammer Group album, Oh Yeah (which is brilliant). He comments in the credits that he plays "a Moog-Oberheim combination that sounds a lot like a guitar," as I recall.
The album that had the 'No Guitars' warning was Black Sheep, came out after Oh Yeah
@@lonnieknechtel1500 Thank you !
@@lonnieknechtel1500 Well, it must be on several of his records, I imagine -- like Synergy or Queen did (in different ways).
@@dhalgrentv7157 I can only speak to Oh Yeah and Black Sheep as I own both vinyl albums. The latter had the 'No Guitars' notice prominently on the jacket front, the former did not. I don't think there were any albums released between them.
Jan is one of my favorite musicians...unlimitedly talented person.
I am a guitar guy, not really caring much for synths; Jan is the exception.
A great lesser know record- Some Shapes To Come- Steve Grossman - I believe, done right after Mahavishnu,
Jan plays elec. Piano and Moog- every cut is fantastic- just like there is some Bird in every jazz solo (generalizing a little) there is some Jan in every synth solo!
Great show- thanks
Great convo ⭐️
Great interview, but why does no one get him to talk about his work with Elvin Jones, Don Alias & Gene Perla, Jeremy Stieg or Horacee Arnold? I’d love more about that early to mid 70’s work.
I was wondering about that myself! I first heard Jan playing with Elvin…Burning straight ahead Jazz Piano!
He did some great stuff with John Abercrombie as well.
@@teppscan Timeless is timeless. Great version of Red & Orange.
I remember him playing ' the first seven days' at the Bottom Line in NYC... Those low moog notes would rattle the chicken fingers off my dinner plate! LOL
He's a proven true genius. Would love to hear him do something with Omar Hakim on drums, and Tal Wilkenfeld on bass.🙂
The first big show I saw was Grand Funk Railroad. Then I got dragged to my second show: The
Mahavishnu Orchestra. I didn't sleep for five days afterwards, and I didn't even know about drugs! Maybe not so oddly, the only other band that ever did that to me was Shakti.
back when the “pitch wheel” was ( still is) for expression. I remember waiting a high dollar Oberheim synth just to be able to play more than one note. Jan and Beck influenced that lead tone and style for many. thanks for the memories!
I saw Jan with Jeff Beck circa 75 maybe. Seemed almost like competition between them , but very good.
Keith Emerson passed away this day seven years ago...RIP
My second concert, Chandler Pavilion, Mahavishnu headlining over Loudon Wainwright and a classical sextet. Maybe Jan doesn't realize, but that silence after the songs was us catching our breaths after hearing the loudest and clearest music EVER. Also, the hit of Purple Microdot I am sure half the crowd (and I) was on contributed as well!!! Except for The Who, most of the concerts the rest of my life were all downhill after that one. Easily the most incredible musical experience of my life. Jan, John, and Jerry would somehow make all their instruments...Moog, Guitar, and Electric Violin, respectively, sound like the same voice. Except for maybe Keith, Manfred Mann, and mostly Jan...nobody solos like those guys did on a Moog, or Arp...oh yeah...George Duke these days!!! Most use the synths like a bass machine or sound efx. Thanks Jan for the wonderful influence you had on me starting when I was a teenager in the '70!!!😁🤩😎
No mention of the Great Billy Cobham? Must be the acid :)
@@ChromaticHarp Actually, he couldn't be heard over the soloing monsters (just kidding)....really, can you imagine a drummer like Mr Cobham being overshadowed??? Saw him here in Eugene some years later. Could hear him then!!!😍🤩😎
@@ChromaticHarp btw..the LSD brought clarity like I have never experienced since. I remember that concert more clearly than most others. That was 1973!!! Only those who don't know could give such a remark?😎
@@saxmidiman I was in high school in 1973 when I saw the
Mahavishnu orch in Central Park (Shaffer music festival) A Truly draw dropping experience. I was probably just smiling weed and drinking Shaffer Beer 🍺 but durning that era it was also acid, mescaline, ‘Shrooms, PCP, Qualuudes, tuninol, Seconal, Glue, Blow…wgatever…
By
Thanks for this
Jan is THE Cat
Lovely!!!!❤ he’s the bestest in the westest!!!
" You cannot have a hot band without a guitar". Having seen the Jan Hammer Group several times as a trio back in the late 70's or early 80's, I have to disagree! They were terrific, and bassist Colin Hodgkinson was an absolute knockout. On "Darkness/Earch In Search Of A Sun", the drink glasses on our table were rattling and shimmering across the table from the bass notes, and they played a smoking version of "Manic Depression". I also remember they played Robert Johnson's "Hellhound On My Trail", and Hodgkinson played a solo bass guitar version of "Preachin' Blues" that was a tour-de-force. At one of the shows, some a-hole stole one of Jan's effects pedals, and that put a bit of a damper on the show.
hodgkinson is SO UNDERRATED he was doing things in the bass ,some years before Jaco that were ( ARE) astonishing
I first heard Jan Hammer playing Acoustic piano with Elvin Jones and Burnin’!!!!
Completely agree the Back Door albums are fantastic and packed w/ great compositions. Hodgkinson is a kind of invisible giant of the bass.
@@ChromaticHarp , Jan Hammer used to play piano for Sara Vaughn as well.
Saw him w/ Al Dimeola in 1982. His group opened (w/ Colin H.) then he joined Al's band for the main show!
Jeff Beck live with Jan Hammer Best live album
JAN now we are talking serious key bending awesomeness crazy stuff one and only Jan H🎹🎹🎹
at 32:15 Jan mentions playing along with Elvin Jones recordings -- a shame neither he nor the hosts mention the great session Jan recorded with Elvin and bassist Gene Perla, "On the Mountain" ... you can find it here on uTube
in any band with exceptional players, there's going to be friendly competition and I've always felt that Jan's brilliant solo on the "Birds of Fire" song actually "out-guitars" John's solo ... also, a bit of a stretch, perhaps, just to outdo "Celestial Terrestrial Commuters" -- in 19, I believe -- Jan offers "Twenty One" -- in 21 -- on his "Oh Yeah" album (on which Jan also plays some drums)
thanks for this tremendous interview
Jan Hammer - GREAT, GREAT PLAYER!!!
What a gem!!
I agree. Jan is an absolute treasure. :)
Cobham's Spectrum one of greatest fusion records.
Amazing musician.
John hammers composition, the first 7 days, was genius.
btw. , .... great interview ...
THANK YOU.
You're welcome!
I got a call out of the blue one evening right when I walked in the door. It was February 28, 2008. The voice said " Hello, may I speak to Andy Okus?". And I replied " this is Andy ". Then the guy said " This is David Sancious ". And I went " Wow!, DAVID SANCIOUS ". Then he hollered at me, " Andy I've called you 7 times today!" You know like really pissed. But I chilled him out and I went on to have one of the greatest conversations of my life with THE Greatest Mini-moog player and genius Jazz-rock composer next to none. I don't want to insult Jan Hammer but some people just aren't nice people you dig? And I've played with the biggest names in Hollywood and the Jazz-rock world. Let me just say check out the rare but brilliant album he made with David Earle Johnson " Time Is Free ".That's where all the ideas for his later famous work came from.
Musical master! ❤
Awesome.
Imagine having Mahavishnu opening for your band.
Great interview, just one thing... nothing about collaboration with Al DiMeola :-(
36:50 Hendrix ....you're welcome
The world needs to know who Jan Hammer is ....
They do and have for 50 years. Just because you are getting hip means nothing.
Didn't mention the album with Jerry Goodman. Maybe there's a reason.
Like Children 👍
Didn't talk about DiMeola much either.
How about the most brilliant album he made with David Earle Johnson? What was it called?, " Time Is Free ".Totally non-commercial but genius.
A legend
J.H. : "You can't have a hot band without a guitar ... " and this from a keyboard player ...
Then he dropped his Jaco and Metheny bombs! I've seen Metheny live 11 times and Jaco is one of the greatest musicians ever...
Jan sounded awesome with Elvin Jones. Jan musical ability is vast.
Wondering how and when Jan got posession of the MiniMoog in 1972
Juju or ju-ju is a spiritual belief system incorporating objects, such as amulets, and spells used in religious practice in West Africa by the people of Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana, Congo and Cameroon. The term has been applied to traditional African religions. - so he must be talking about a style of music popular among the Yoruba in Nigeria and characterized by the use of guitars and variable-pitch drums maybe?
Dude nailed the Miami Vice theme
WAIT we're going to talk more about Keith Emerson than we are about JM?
Dont forget Miami Vice Lots of mailbox money for Jan I would think since its replayed worldwide.
Jan is his own thing.
Some BS from Jan. I saw Mahaviishnu and ELP in Denver ( had never heard either band ) and when Mahavishnu left the stage there was no clappiing - because they sounded terrible. The newspaper the next day just crushed them. ELP, on the other hand, were great. Saw Mahavishnu in Boulder a year later and they were excellent.
I have a theory that he secretly wrote all of Jeff beck, John McLaughlin, and Eddie Van Halen’s songs.
Jan soared with Zappa, .let's not forget ...
3:45
✌
Shame. No mention of Tommy Bolin collab with Billy Cobham on his Spectrum LP. Lacks the jazz pretense and is where Jan's "hot" guitar fixation gelled. Jeff Beck couldnt get past it so he made Blow by Blow. Cobham & Hammer badly needed Bolin to finally ROCK jazz again.
Right On !!! Tommy actually played W/ Cobham and Hammer before Mahavishnu on a Jeremy Steig Session . Tommy is SO Under rated .
Miami Vice!