Jan Hammer recently joined Jeff Beck during the guitar legend’s eight-date tour of the U.K. this June.  Despite their many tours in the past, Beck and Hammer had previously only ever played one U.K date together, that being a concert back in 1976.  This tour, Jeff Beck’s first in the U.K. since 1990, marked the first time the two had performed together live since 1986.

Jan Hammer and Jeff Beck first met in 1973 when Jan’s Mahavishnu Orchestra and Jeff’s own band were touring Switzerland.  An admirer of the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Beck later become enamored with Jan’s abilities as a writer and performer following the release of Hammer’s classic solo albums Like Children (1974) and The First Seven Days (1975).

In 1976, during the recording of his album Wired, Beck flew to New York to enlist the help of Hammer, who was in the midst of recording OH YEAH?  In one memorable week at Hammer’s upstate New York studio the pair managed to record most of the classic Wired album including the Hammer-penned “Blue Wind”, now a Jeff Beck standard.

With both of their albums slated for a spring release, Beck and Hammer then decided to tour together.  The result was an incredible 112-date tour, which stretched from June 1976 into February 1977 and yielded the classic gold album Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live.

Over the years, Beck and Hammer kept closely in touch and have collaborated often.  Following Wired and Jeff Beck with the Jan Hammer Group Live, Jan wrote and performed on 3 tunes from Jeff’s next album There And Back and, in 1985, Jan wrote and performed on the track “Escape” from Jeff’s album Flash, which won a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1983 they performed together for a string of benefit concerts for ARMS along with Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, Charlie Watts and Joe Cocker, among others, and then in 1986 Jan and Jeff did a tour of Japan.  In 1994 Jeff performed on 2 tracks for Jan’s album Drive for which Jan returned the favor and wrote, performed and produced a track for Jeff’s 1999 album, Who Else?

Despite these continued studio collaborations, many fans cannot forget the live magic of those early days, that indisputable Beck/Hammer chemistry, and indeed this reunification has been eagerly anticipated for years.  When plans were conceived for his 2004 U.K. tour, Beck immediately asked Hammer to join him and, much to the delight of U.K. fans, the result was eight memorable dates in June which saw the pair reunited live for the first time in nearly 18 years.

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