Jan Hammer has just released his first new studio album in ten years called “Seasons Pt. 1.”
“It’s about time,” Hammer says. “I’ve actually been thinking about releasing something new for six or seven years. This is what happens – musical ideas had accumulated in my head over time until I suddenly realised that I had more than enough for an album.”
Seasons Pt. 1 features 13 tracks. Hammer cites influences as far ranging as the varied strains of the music he grew up with to what he calls “the elephant in the room” – his four seasons scoring Miami Vice. “I really had these residual feelings of unfinished business. I’m proud of the work I did for the show, and there are echoes of that music that continue to resonate for me.”
Hammer himself describes the new album as “cinematic.” The opening track, Miami – Night, was inspired by Miami Vice director Michael Mann’s technique of spraying the streets with water when taping at night to set the mood for a scene.
“When I wrote Miami – Night, explains Hammer, “it felt like I was creating an opening scene in a screenplay.”
Hammer, who has also worked with Jeff Beck, Neal Schon, Al Di Meola, Tony Williams and Mick Jagger, also appears in Still On The Run: The Jeff Beck Story, with footage of his appearance at Beck’s 2016 Hollywood Bowl concert.