JAN HAMMER

Make Love—MPS-BASF 20688: Make Love; 
Waltz For Ivona; Braching; Domicile’s last Night; 
Maliny Maliny; Goats Song; Responsibility
Personnel: Hammer, piano and organ; George Mraz, 
bass; Cees See, drums.
 

Hammer’s increasing commercial viability was likely the key incentive in BASF’s decision to release Make Love, a live recording presumably from his pre-synthesizer days in trio format. I say “presumably” because BASF has seen fit to afford no information about when the session was taped, only that it was recorded at the noisy Domicile in Munich, where the crowds din occasionally drowns out the musicians.  Still, in the intimate club atmosphere, the reserved performances included are perfectly acceptable.  The Jan Hammer of Make Love is a young musician heavily indebted to the bluesy, mid–‘60s persuals of Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock  and Jimmy Smith.  Few of the mannerisms that so clearly define Hammer’s modern style – the fiery, arcing phrasing, the slurring, exclamatory attack—are in evidence, and, as a result, the record should be listened to from the perspective of its historical importance.