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Jeffrey Hammond... Underrated?

T

ToadWarrior

Aug 26, 2009
239
27
Manitoba Canada
#1
So I've been trying to learn Aqualung, Thick as a Brick, and A Passion Play..And I have to say these are some pretty kickass lines... Not those ridiculous kind you hear from Chris Squire or anything, they are alot more "grounded" I guess. But seriously, some of these take some chops, and there is abit of interesting stuff melodically.

I've noticed Jeffrey Hammond gets abit of flak compared to the previous and later bass players (Glasscock, Cornick.) Is it because Anderson wrote alot of the lines and Hammond couldn't perform them live perfectly or something? To my ears those lines sound fantastic on the records.
 
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#3
I was never a rabid Tull fan so I'm only peripherally aware of who played bass on what albums...but it turns out that 99% of the Tull music I do know featured Hammond on bass. And it never would have occurred to me that he was anything less than an excellent musician, based on the bass playing on those classic albums. Weird.
 
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#6
I was just thinking about Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond today. I remember when I saw Jethro Tull in about 1973 or so. He was in black-n-white stripes. During Jeffrey's solo part everyone else left the stage for a break. He did some stuff on the upright. Then back to the electric. A "zebra" came out and danced around while he played. The zebra turned around, tail went up in the air, and three balls (white with a black stripe, of course) came out. Jeffrey juggled them for a minute. Threw the first ball into the audience, then the second, then the third. When the third ball landed, the lights blasted on and the band (who had sneaked back onstage, unnoticed) crashed into the next song. Very cool bit of theater.
 
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#9
Yesterday, I watched a YT Channel where the 2 guys talked about Tull's box sets (wish I had picked a couple of these up when issued).

One of the guys made a comment about Hammond not being but so good (compared to Cornick & Glascock)
The other guy said, "...well, he was Ian's friend, after all".
1st guy did say Hammond did put on a show in concert.

All these years, I was in the dark, I guess.
Aqualung & TAAB sound great...even if someone else wrote & taught the parts to Hammond.
Some of "Aqualung" sounds improvised (jamming)?
 
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#10
JimK said:
Yesterday, I watched a YT Channel where the 2 guys talked about Tull's box sets (wish I had picked a couple of these up when issued).

One of the guys made a comment about Hammond not being but so good (compared to Cornick & Glascock)
The other guy said, "...well, he was Ian's friend, after all".
1st guy did say Hammond did put on a show in concert.

All these years, I was in the dark, I guess.
Aqualung & TAAB sound great...even if someone else wrote & taught the parts to Hammond.
Some of "Aqualung" sounds improvised (jamming)?
Click to expand...
Even Jeffrey himself said in an interview that he was a complete beginner when he started playing with them, then he went to art school for a couple years and came back when Glenn Cornick was asked to leave.

But yeah, a showman he was.
 
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#11
The way I remember it, JH-H's passion was art not music. Even if he was playing "as a job", not as his real love, I still liked his bass playing and how he fit with JT. I have a bit of a problem with the term, slouch. Whether he was a "monster" or not, or whether he wrote all his own lines, I don't care. There have been many bass players who were not monsters and / or who played the lines they were given and still made a big contribution to the body of music that we have enjoyed.
 
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#12
Dinosaur thread.

I'm kinda shocked by people (not here) saying JHH was a poor player.

Has anybody tried to follow Passion Play? Just to be able to follow that stuff is he's amazing to me. There's so many little counter melodies. Of course with "Brick" and War Child. JHH has always been one of my favorite bass players.

I saw the War child tour...and I read he never played before he joined?

Maybe I'm missing something...I think the guy's brilliant.
 
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#16
This one has always puzzled me as well. I'm a big Tull fan and have read all of the opinions that Hammond was somehow sub-par, but it certainly never was revealed in his playing! I always thought he was fantastic.

As far as Tull bassists, John Glascock was my favorite, but none were "slouches" by any method of measure!
 
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#17
Rockbobmel said:
I've been listening to Minstrel in The Gallery lately. I'm just in awe of his playing and tone! I think he used P-bass into Hiwatt.
Click to expand...

P-Bass indeed (on that album and "War Child") but I think he used Acoustic 360. At least on stage.
"Thick As A Brick" and the Chateau sessions where played on a Jazz Bass and especially on the latter there's that Acoustic folded horn cab sound. He also used a quite a bit of distortion on the latter which sounds wonderful.
Not sure about the "Passion Play", on the tour he still used the Jazz.
http://www.tullpress.com/images/jeff73.jpg

254.jpg


He also used a Mustang when he first joined, it's probably on "Aqualung" as well.

That iconic striped bass.

Invalid Link Removed
 
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