I saw the Jan Hammer Group in 1975 on a tiny stage when the "The First Seven Days" was released at Ratso's small club in Chicago. I sat right next to Hammer during the entire performance and had conversation with Jan between tunes. They were incredible to say the least! Prior to that I saw the Birds of Fire concert and every Mahavishnu & Hammer show since. Love Them!
Great video. Great violinist STEVE KINDLER now plays on the only one in the world 9 string violin., exceptional instrument that has all registers! Great pleasure to tell that he has performed in Poland several times and new appearances are coming!.
I always tried to emulate the legato of Alan Holdsworth and Jan hammer's phrasing. His work with Beck and Mahavishnu Orchestra, blew my mind in the 70's and I never stopped worshiping their craftsmanship to this very day!
@jlevinsoul - Tony Smith has been teaching at Berklee College of Music for many years now. I had the privelage of studying privately with him last year. He's an amazing drummer, and a fantastic person as well. He's always got so much energy in everything he does :)
Got to see Jan Hammer in 1979 at a club called My Fathers Place in L.I.. The opening act was a comedy trio, one of the members being Eddie Murphy. My friend and I were heckling Jan, blurting out "Where's Tony?(Smith) Where's Fernando? Jan starts laughing while the other keyboardist Bob Christianson looks over at Jan while pointing at us and asks Jan These guys friends of yours?
I have a new obsession now! Maybe not obsession...but it's definitely an interest. And it's called Jan Hammer! Pretty weird for a banjo player, eh? I learned Crockett's Theme on banjo, it was a lot of fun.
Great version! There are certainly some live boots out there of this great band, but I can not find ANY video. ...Anyone? We're talking of the ORIGINAL Jan Hammer Group - Jan, TOny Smith, Fernando Saunders, Steve Kindler. C'mon, SOMEONE's got to have some footage...?
@timminananda I saw Jerry with the Dixie Dregs in Tempe Az about 6 years ago. He was awesome, they played Dance of Maya. He's incredible, and they are an incredible band. It's too bad T Lavitz recently passed away. If you ever get the chance check out the Dregs. I saw Jan Hammer Group a few times in the 70's another fantastic show(s).
LOVE this song, although the drumming is much busier than the original. Jan Hammer is a super gifted melody maker, like George Duke, Jon Anderson, Neal Morse, Joe Zawinul, Elvis Costello.
Yeah this band rocked!I saw them in Princeton New Jersey for the O yeah album. Jan was cranking it up so bad the audience was putting there hand's over there ear's. He got the message and lower it just a tad.Tony Smith is just a killer on drum's! How did you get this live cut.? Been waiting for some decent Jan Hammer music for a long time!
@Zombiewulf1 We have similar taste and aspirations. I just have one question: What the hell happened to Jan after about 1982?! He left an amazing and consistently brilliant body of work for a decade and then unleashed some of the most insipid air-pudding ever conceived!
@pricesmithmusic Sorry, didn't notice you'd already replied. Between Tony, Larry Finn and Dave DiCensom, to name just 3 there, the rhythm 'section' at Berklee is pretty nasty!! ;)
@Modes9 You're right! I think he fell prey to marketing vampires. First the lure (money and mass audience ), then the bite (dummy down your ability), and Presto!!!...welcome to the world of the undead!
![Jan Hammer - Tubbs and Valerie (Miami Vice) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tIm2dAdx5-0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Jan Hammer - Tubbs and Valerie (Miami Vice) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](/img/tr.png)
![Jan Hammer - Seeds Of Life (w/ Chris Thompson) [OFFICIAL VIDEO]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0m7cvi4RBt8/mqdefault.jpg)
An amazing band!!!! Fernando Saunders is an absolute beast on bass and Tony Smith is a force of nature on drums!!!
I saw the Jan Hammer Group in 1975 on a tiny stage when the "The First Seven Days" was released at Ratso's small club in Chicago. I sat right next to Hammer during the entire performance and had conversation with Jan between tunes. They were incredible to say the least! Prior to that I saw the Birds of Fire concert and every Mahavishnu & Hammer show since. Love Them!
I'll keep waiting. Got to play with Tony Smith at Berklee last year; we played a lot of Jan's tunes. What a blast! He still kills it. :)
Great video. Great violinist STEVE KINDLER now plays on the only one in the world 9 string violin., exceptional instrument that has all registers! Great pleasure to tell that he has performed in Poland several times and new appearances are coming!.
I always tried to emulate the legato of Alan Holdsworth and Jan hammer's phrasing. His work with Beck and Mahavishnu Orchestra, blew my mind in the 70's and I never stopped worshiping their craftsmanship to this very day!
Agreed on Tony Smith. He was an absolute monster drummer, very underrated.
Tony is incredible
@jlevinsoul - Tony Smith has been teaching at Berklee College of Music for many years now. I had the privelage of studying privately with him last year. He's an amazing drummer, and a fantastic person as well. He's always got so much energy in everything he does :)
Tony is very underrated. I've been a huge fan of his since the mid-70's. I saw him with Jan during this time period.. That band kicked ass.
Got to see Jan Hammer in 1979 at a club called My Fathers Place in L.I.. The opening act was a comedy trio, one of the members being Eddie Murphy. My friend and I were heckling Jan, blurting out "Where's Tony?(Smith) Where's Fernando? Jan starts laughing while the other keyboardist Bob Christianson looks over at Jan while pointing at us and asks Jan These guys friends of yours?
Tony thunder smith is a badass badass drummer WOW .
Steve Kindler the Honolulu Synphony Orchestra master and darn good body surfer!
What a band!!!!!! Does anyone know what happened to Tony Smith? He might be the greatest drummer that no one has ever heard of.
I have a new obsession now! Maybe not obsession...but it's definitely an interest. And it's called Jan Hammer! Pretty weird for a banjo player, eh? I learned Crockett's Theme on banjo, it was a lot of fun.
hey, livee!
Is this on cd or what? Man this is totally awesome! Thanks marscape for posting it!
Great version! There are certainly some live boots out there of this great band, but I can not find ANY video. ...Anyone? We're talking of the ORIGINAL Jan Hammer Group - Jan, TOny Smith, Fernando Saunders, Steve Kindler. C'mon, SOMEONE's got to have some footage...?
Neil Alexander from my research, there's probably footage of the band playing at the Berliner jazztage 1976.
and all the tracks on Mclaughlin's 'Electric Guitarist' album.
yes!!! i love it!!!!
@timminananda I saw Jerry with the Dixie Dregs in Tempe Az about 6 years ago. He was awesome, they played Dance of Maya. He's incredible, and they are an incredible band. It's too bad T Lavitz recently passed away. If you ever get the chance check out the Dregs. I saw Jan Hammer Group a few times in the 70's another fantastic show(s).
LOVE this song, although the drumming is much busier than the original.
Jan Hammer is a super gifted melody maker, like George Duke, Jon Anderson, Neal Morse, Joe Zawinul, Elvis Costello.
Based on this performance I can surely hear quite a bit of Tony Smith in Dennis Chambers.
@jlevinsoul ...and singer, too! He left a comment on "Window of Love", Hope it was him anyway, moniker was tonythunderdrums.
Yeah this band rocked!I saw them in Princeton New Jersey for the O yeah album. Jan was cranking it up so bad the audience was putting there hand's over there ear's. He got the message and lower it just a tad.Tony Smith is just a killer on drum's! How did you get this live cut.? Been waiting for some decent Jan Hammer music for a long time!
@Zombiewulf1 We have similar taste and aspirations. I just have one question: What the hell happened to Jan after about 1982?! He left an amazing and consistently brilliant body of work for a decade and then unleashed some of the most insipid air-pudding ever conceived!
da jan hammer group!1
Violin Master STEVE KINDLER.
sadly neglected, yes
@jlevinsoul
He's on the faculty at Berklee
@pricesmithmusic
Sorry, didn't notice you'd already replied.
Between Tony, Larry Finn and Dave DiCensom, to name just 3 there, the rhythm 'section' at Berklee is pretty nasty!! ;)
@Modes9 You're right! I think he fell prey to marketing vampires. First the lure (money and mass audience ), then the bite (dummy down your ability), and Presto!!!...welcome to the world of the undead!
there probably is... probably in Europe somewhere locked in a vault
@drumkid75 ;)
There's no guitarist to take all the chorus!!
Ah,ah,ah!!!