Jan Hammer

So they, so he had Geo- George Martin.

It, it reinvents his career, then he continues in this fusion train, and it was very interesting, too, w- what I found fascinating is your, um, the influence of Jan Hammer on his-

Mm-hmm

... playing, the way he articulated notes, the way he approached, smeared things.

It brings him back to that.

And he always had a fascination with that.

Obviously, Jan Hammer, he loved synthesizers and-

Mm-hmm

It traded the operatic scale for a highly curated aesthetic.

You know, pastel suits, synth-heavy Jan Hammer scores, and those long brooding stares across the water.

Yeah.

Structurally, Miami Vice was doing something revolutionary for television at the time.

Um, anyway, the stakeout goes sour.

Uh, Jan Hammer absolutely jams out on the synth.

Um-

Mm-hmm

80s TV theme song's question is this.

The soundtrack from which TV crime drama, known for its action sequences, slick visuals, and memorable characters, sat on the top of the U.S. album chart for 11 weeks in 1985, largely due to Jan Hammer's instrumental theme song, which itself peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on November 9, 1985.

That

is Miami Vice, my friend.

That is Miami Vice, that is correct, yes.

Jan Hammer.

Did I say Jan? I did say Jan.

I think it's Jan Hamer.

And the music that we just heard for podcast 414 is...

One of Jan Hammer's more disturbing and really deep musical tracks for Miami Vice, this was season two, episode 21, entitled Evan, and it involves a profoundly confessional, deeply realistic, and ultimately highly redemptive conversation.

You might call it a confession and the word is used at one point in the episode in which the Crockett character explains to his colleague Tubbs a terrible thing that happened early in his work as a vice cop in miami and the music accompanies the conversation between crockett who is confessing something deeply deeply major in his own and one other person's life and then the tubs his partner is listening he doesn't interrupt thank god he listens and that caused me to think about the many times in which a conversation with a listener is the doorway to healing in a situation of past regret or deep disturbance or conflict or suffering that has carved itself into the inner life of you and me that must be aired and surfaced in order for it to be healed.

And I want to talk about the healing power of listening.

And he's got a great quintet with him, Mike Clark on drums, leading the group, along with Eddie Henderson on trumpet, Petrus Russian on piano and keyboards, Esied Esied on bass, and Craig Handy on saxophone.

This one is a Jan Hamer composition, and it's entitled Lungs.

Thank

you.

Jimbo, you excited about this as a TV person? Do you, do you like Miami Vice?

I, I, do you know what? I never really wa- I mean, I've seen Miami Vice, but I'm, I'm more familiar with the Jan Hammer soundtrack than I ever was with the actual show.

I think I was a little-

Mm

It was a center for where rock and jazz fusion had started.

whether it was Ray Gomez playing guitar or David Sanctus on keyboards or Jan Hammer, and then all these great New York City musicians in the horn sections.

You never wanted to go home because you never knew what you're going to miss.

In fact, before Studio C was built at Electric Lady, that was Michael Jeffrey's apartment, I used to sleep there.