Cool keyboard

[uwe]

Jan Hammer selflessly helped Tommy Bolin get the well-paid job with DP. At loss what to do after Blackmore's departure and Clem Clempson as a slated replacement not having worked out, David Coverdale and Jon Lord spent a drunken night in Coverdale's then LA home listening to Billy Cobham's Spectrum debut (which featured both Jan and Tommy) again and again. They both mistook Jan's liquid lightning-fast runs with Bolin's usually heavily processed guitar playing. After Bolin had passed the Purple audition with flying colors and the ink had dried, Lord and Coverdale complimented Bolin on the - to my ears indeed impressive to this day - introductory solo runs to Cobham's Quadrant 4. Tommy - who had been credited with Jan's soloing by other people before, it had become a sore point with him ever since the James Gang guys made the same comment - tiredly replied: "That was Jan, not me." Bolin only makes his entry here at 1:11.



Doesn't alter the fact that Bolin was a (very) gifted musician and guitarist - even if he wasn't in Hammer's league as regards speed and knowledge of non-standard scales (years and years of Mahavishnu help!).

And yes, when I heard Spectrum the first few times, I too thought those were Tommy's leads. 

[amptech]

Jan's melodic sense, speed and timing is insane.. He is the Allan Holdsworth of keyboard!

[Highlander]

I've always liked the recordings he did with Neil Schon... does it for me...

[gearHed289]

Spotted the whammy Clav is this GH vid. Lachy Doley...

[westen44]

It used to be possible to post the link.  Because I once sent the link to a friend.  Now if you try, you only get "video does not exist."  But if you go to YT, you might (or might not) get something if you try ---Jack Bruce w Jan Hammer Group - 1983 Metropol Berlin.  An unusual set list and an appreciative audience. 

[uwe]

Let me tell you, krauts are jazz rock diggers, maybe the layered and engineered structure of the music speaks with our psyche. Cobham, Hammer, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Weather Report, Jaco, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Al di Meola, Return to Forever, McLaughlin could all make a healthy living on the circuit in the 70ies and 80ies (and many still do, unless they have stopped touring).

[Dave W]

Let me tell you, krauts are jazz rock diggers, maybe the layered and engineered structure of the music speaks with our psyche. Cobham, Hammer, Stanley Clarke, George Duke, Weather Report, Jaco, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Al di Meola, Return to Forever, McLaughlin could all make a healthy living on the circuit in the 70ies and 80ies (and many still do, unless they have stopped touring).

And here I thought krauts were pining for the return of Nena.

[uwe]

Nena has become a national treasure, she is ever-present, no need for a comeback, even our neighbors to the west dig her (avec un SG Bass!):



She's become a bit of a Kraut Chrissie Hynde:



Not bad for a grandmother of - meanwhile - three.



Nena has had her musical ups and downs and she's no Aretha Franklin, but I like a lot of her work.

[uwe]

Spotted the whammy Clav is this GH vid. Lachy Doley...

That does remind me a bit of that other - organ-driven - band he played once with between Trapeze and Black Sabbath. I forgot their name, but they played a version of a Kula Shaker song once. Very nice.

But someone should tell Glenn that he looks and moves far better when he has a bass hanging from his neck rather than in "singer only"-mode.