Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist.
He first gained his most visible audience
while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu
Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his
film scores for television and film including
"Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme",
from the popular 1980s program, Miami Vice.
He continued to work as both a musical performer
and producer, expanding to producing film
later in his career.
Hammer has collaborated with some of the era's
most influential jazz and rock musicians such
as John McLaughlin, Jeff Beck, Al Di Meola,
Mick Jagger, Carlos Santana, Stanley Clarke,
Tommy Bolin, Neal Schon, Steve Lukather, and
Elvin Jones among many others.
He has composed and produced at least 14 original
motion picture soundtracks, the music for
90 episodes of Miami Vice and 20 episodes
of the popular British television series Chancer.
His compositions have won him several Grammy
awards.
Biography
Early life
Jan Hammer was born in Prague, then capital
of Czechoslovakia.
His mother was Vlasta Průchová, a well-known
Czech singer, and his father was a doctor
who worked his way through school playing
Vibraphone and bass guitar.
Hammer began playing the piano at the age
of four and his formal instruction started
two years later.
He aspired to follow his father into medicine
until a family friend convinced him to develop
his musical talents instead.
Hammer formed a jazz trio in high school,
performing and recording throughout Eastern
Europe at the age of fourteen.
Upon entrance to the Prague Academy of Musical
Arts, he completed many compulsory classes
including harmony, counterpoint, music history,
and classical composition.
When the Warsaw Pact invaded Czechoslovakia
in 1968, Hammer's studies at the Academy were
cut short, and he moved to the United States
and resolved to become a citizen after receiving
a scholarship at Berklee College of Music
in Boston.
Upon completion of his studies, Hammer spent
a year touring with Sarah Vaughan, recorded
with Elvin Jones and Jeremy Steig, then moved
to Lower Manhattan and joined the original
lineup of the Mahavishnu Orchestra with guitarist
John McLaughlin, violinist Jerry Goodman,
bassist Rick Laird, and drummer Billy Cobham
in 1971.
A successful jazz fusion band, they performed
some 530 shows before their farewell concert
on December 30, 1973.
Hammer was one of the early pioneers who played
the Mini Moog synthesizer in a touring group.
After recording albums with Goodman and John
Abercrombie in 1974, Hammer's solo career
began with the release of The First Seven
Days.
He produced and recorded the album at Red
Gate Studio, which he'd built in his upstate
New York farmhouse and which has been the
location of his recordings ever since.
The Jan Hammer Group was formed in 1976 and
supported The First Seven Days on tour, receiving
good reviews from both jazz and rock critics.
The group turned out three LPs the following
year: their own Oh, Yeah? and, with Jeff Beck,
the RIAA platinum Wired, and Jeff Beck with
the Jan Hammer Group Live, a chronicle of
their 100-show tour together, certified gold.
One final album by the group followed in 1977,
Melodies.
Hammer composed music for the Czech fairy-tale
Šíleně smutná princezna.
1970s and early 1980s
Hammer returned to solo work with the release
of Black Sheep in 1978.
He then formed a new band, known as "Hammer".
Also in 1978, he wrote and performed on three
songs for Jeff Beck's next album, There and
Back which was released in 1980.
One of the album tracks, "Star Cycle," went
on to become the theme for the British television
series The Tube.
The '80s arrived with concurrent projects
with two of today's most respected guitarists.
In 1977 with Al Di Meola, Hammer recorded
Elegant Gypsy.
Casino, Splendido Hotel and Electric Rendezvous
followed.
He then joined Di Meola for a tour chronicled
the same year on Tour De Force - Live; and
finally appeared throughout Scenario, utilizing
his new Fairlight CMI digital synthesizer
and contributing to more than half of the
album's compositions.
At the same time, the duo known as Schon & Hammer,
with the mega-platinum band Journey's guitarist
Neal Schon, recorded Untold Passion in 1981
and Here to Stay in 1982.
Despite his active schedule, Hammer took the
stage with Jeff Beck in December 1983 for
the nine U.S. benefit concerts that raised
money for Ronnie Lane's A.R.M.S., featuring
Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and a
host of others.
Into 1984, his various talents were employed
on recordings as diverse as James Young's
first solo album, City Slicker for which he
co-wrote and produced; John Abercrombie's
Night; Mick Jagger's first solo album, She's
the Boss; and Jeff Beck's Flash which included
Hammer's song "Escape", winner of the 1985
Grammy award for "Best Rock Instrumental Performance".
Miami Vice and successes
Hammer's original scores for three major motion
pictures complement a long list of credits
for documentaries, "made-for-TV" movies in
the U.S., commercials, and station identifications.
But his greatest challenge came in the fall
of 1984, when the producers of Miami Vice
enlisted him to commence the rigorous weekly
schedule of scoring the series.
The popular success of his music on the series
was evident after just one season when, on
November 2, 1985, the Miami Vice Soundtrack
hit number one on the Billboard Top Pop album
charts.
The album achieved quadruple-platinum status
with U.S. sales of more than four million
copies.
At the Grammy awards in February 1986, "Miami
Vice Theme" earned Hammer two awards; one
for "Best Pop Instrumental Performance" and
one for "Best Instrumental Composition".
He also earned Emmy award nominations in 1985
and 1986, for "Outstanding Achievement in
Musical Composition".
At the end of 1986, Hammer won Keyboard Magazine's
poll as "Best Studio Synthesist" for a second
consecutive year.
He had previously won the "Best Lead Synthesist"
honor for seven years, at which time he was
inducted into the Keyboard Hall of Fame.
In 1988, Hammer bowed out of full-time musical
chores for Miami Vice.
The first project to spring from the new Red
Gate was Hammer's original soundtrack for
Clinton and Nadine for HBO Films.
Hammer's next two assignments contributed
greatly to his next album.
First, at the end of the summer, he was commissioned
to compose and perform a theme entitled "The
Runner" for a major series of television advertisements
in England that starred Bob Geldof.
Second, Hammer composed and performed the
theme music for the top-rated new bi-weekly
pan-European television series, Eurocops,
which premiered in seven countries that November.
Snapshots was the first full album from the
new Red Gate studio in 1989, with Hammer composing,
performing and producing every track.
The promo video for "Too Much to Lose," the
album's first European single, featured Jeff
Beck, David Gilmour of Pink Floyd, and Ringo
Starr.
The 1990s
In the early 90s Jan toured with drummer Tony
Williams.
The 1990s saw a renewed focus on scoring,
starting with I Come in Peace, Curiosity Kills
and all twenty episodes of the British television
series, Chancer, several episodes of HBO's
Tales from the Crypt; a television spot for
Amnesty International, featuring Czech president
Václav Havel, two pilots for NBC, Knight
Rider 2000 and News at 12, The Taking of Beverly
Hills and New Line Cinema's Sunset Heat.
Hammer's next project was as composer and
performer of the original score for the Miramar
Productions video album, Beyond the Mind's
Eye.
1994 saw Hammer recording Drive, his first
full-fledged album of original new non-soundtrack
material under his name in several years.
He was reunited with longtime partner Jeff
Beck on "Underground", reminiscent of their
collaborations of the past.
In 1995, Hammer returned to his scoring and
soundtrack work.
He began with the one hour Universal drama
Vanishing Son, then went on to compose the
theme and score for 13 episodes of the series.
He composed and performed the original music
for two feature films, both released in 1996:
A Modern Affair and In the Kingdom of the
Blind the Man with One Eye Is King.
Hammer wrapped up the year scoring Beastmaster
III: The Eye of Braxus.
In 1996, Hammer's scoring assignments included
the NBC Movie of the Week, The Babysitter’s
Seduction, The Secret Agent Club, and The
Corporate Ladder.
Also in 1996 Hammer was commissioned to compose
all the original music for TV Nova, the first
commercial television network in Eastern Europe,
based in the Czech Republic.
He composed everything—including themes
for 23 original shows produced by the network,
50 separate station ID’s, the music for
all of the network’s special broadcasts,
plus the music for all the news, sports and
weather programs.
In 1997, Hammer also composed the hard-driving
rock soundtrack for the new CD-ROM game, Outlaw
Racers.
His next project was the theme and original
music score for the pilot and the series of
Prince Street.
Hammer started off 1999 by writing, performing
and producing a tune, "Even Odds" for Jeff
Beck’s latest album Who Else!.
Also, 1999 saw the release of The Lost Trident
Sessions, the third studio album from his
former group, the Mahavishnu Orchestra.
The album was recorded in 1973 just prior
to the band's breakup.
2000 to present
Jan Hammer produced the original score for
Cocaine Cowboys, a 2006 documentary depicting
the infamous Miami drug trade scene of the
1980s.
Hammer's soundtrack of the film was released
in 2007.
Also in the fall of 2004 Hammer released the
album The Best of Miami Vice on the Reality
label in the U.S.
The Best of Miami Vice contains newly recorded
versions of "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett’s
Theme", as well as one bonus track never before
released on CD.
In February 2005, after years of anticipation,
Universal Studios Home Entertainment finally
released the first season of Miami Vice on
three double-sided DVDs.
One of the package’s discs contained bonus
material, including an extensive interview
and archival footage of Hammer creating music
for the show back in 1985.
To coincide with the release of the DVD, Reality
Records released a newly recorded version
of "Crockett’s Theme" to AC radio in America.
In 2006 Hammer was asked to collaborate with
the singer/rapper TQ for a brand new version
of his song "Crockett's Theme".
The result of their work was The Jan Hammer
Project Featuring TQ: Crockett's Theme.
A CD single of this new version climbed up
the charts in Europe, hitting #1 on the iTunes
Europe download list.
In an interview, Jan Hammer indicated that
he is working on a compilation of unreleased
works - which by early 2014 has yet to appear.
Discography
As leader
As sideman
With the Mahavishnu Orchestra:
With Jeff Beck:
With Al Di Meola:
With Frank Foster
The Loud Minority
With Carlos Santana:
Love Devotion Surrender - Hammond organ, Drums,
Percussion
With Stanley Clarke:
Stanley Clarke - Keyboards
With Billy Cobham:
Spectrum - Keyboards
With Harvey Mason:
Earth Mover - Keyboards
With Lenny White:
Big City - Keyboards
With John Abercrombie:
Timeless - Keyboards
Night - Keyboards
With The Freelance Hellraiser:
Waiting For Clearance - Keyboards
With Tommy Bolin:
Teaser - Keyboards, Drums
From The Archives Vol. 1 - Keyboards
With Elvin Jones
Merry-Go-Round - Piano
Mr. Jones - Piano
The Prime Element - Keyboards
Elvin Jones is "On the Mountain" - Keyboards
With Glen Moore:
Introducing Glen Moore - Drums
With Joni Mitchell:
Mingus - Mini Moog
With Tony Williams:
The Joy of Flying - Keyboards
With Mick Jagger:
She's the Boss - Keyboards
With James Young:
City Slicker - Keyboards, Drums
With Clarence Clemons:
An Evening With Mr. C - Keyboards, Drums
With Steve Lukather:
Lukather - Keyboards
With Charlie Mariano:
Helen 12 Trees - Keyboards
References
External links
Official website
Jan Hammer Interview - Mahavishnu, Miami Vice
and More
Unofficial Jan Hammer website *New*
Unofficial Jan Hammer website
Unofficial Jan Hammer website in finnish
Interview Jan Hammer, 07.08.2006
Interview - Discusses his guitar sound experimentations
