Jan: No, it's not that. They're just too big to even care. In the end, if it's presented to them like, "OK, you stand to make some money on this", [hearty laugh], then they say, "sure".
As long as they don't have to do it. Because they've just gotten so concentrated on immediate, next quarter returns and singles. You know, that's all the record companies do now, besides being buys going out of business eventually, because CD is not going to be the viable thing that it used to be-it's all going to be online.
In the interim though, there's still room for a few CDs to be out there, so we just took it upon ourselves to put it out on our own.
Ed: How is it selling?
Jan: It's doing great-it's really wonderful. For me, it's a long-term thing. Again, I'm not obviously looking at singles, or anything like that.
Ed: But when Miami Vice was on, you actually got several number one singles from the instrumentals, right?
Jan: Yes, which is wonderful. I just wish that there was more room for instrumental music, but [singles] are basically all nothing but vocals. It's always been that way. You just break through once in a while with something, and I came around at the lucky moment, when there was so much innovation happening, and so fast, as far as the sounds, themselves, you know what I mean? When I came out with some of the stuff, it was just sounds that were just totally otherworldly. By now, they're fairly common-it's not as unusual to hear all these different sounds. And samples: samples were really just starting to happen at this time, and it sounded unlike anything that people had heard. And I have to say that it was a combination of that, and some of my melodic ideas also struck a chord. So because of those two, it became really popular.
Definitely Miami
Ed: How did initially you hook up with the producers of Miami Vice?
Jan: I was working on another movie that wasn't that great-so it's not even worth mentioning. I had some time to kill, and a friend of mine said, "Let's drop by and visit Michael Mann." He had been aware of other stuff I've done; from my records. So we went over to his office at 20th [Century Fox], and he was there with Thomas Carter, the director of the pilot, and they were just beginning to actually get the thing off the ground. This was like early '84, and they were still casting, nothing was shot yet, and Michael just started saying that he would like to make sure that this "doesn't sound like TV". [chuckle] I understood exactly what he meant, because I was one of the people who just got sick of it. I mean, how many times can you do the same run of the mill, white bread TV score? And I had some sketches on a cassette, and I just played him a few things, and one of the things that I played was a just about finished version of the theme.
Article comments
1 - Phillip Winn
Hmmm... really bad movie. A Night In Heaven or Gimme An 'F'? From the reviews, it appears either one might qualify.
2 - Michael King
I'll simply include the review of the Miami Vice set that I posted to Amazon.com:
This is the soundtrack album for "Miami Vice" that should have been released 15 years ago.
It contains most of the music from Jan Hammer's defacto "Miami Vice" score, "Escape from Television" on disc 1, but the real treasure is on disc 2 - nearly all of the music there is previously unreleased in the US, and conveys the flavor of the quintessential 80's television series.
You know the story by now, but the style of "Miami Vice" set the stage for action television and movies of today. Jump cuts, strong musical tracks, noir-driven sequences; all mainstays of contemporary shows like "CSI" and "ER" have "Miami Vice" to thank for setting the table.
This set lets you feel the wind in your hair, hear the roar of the Ferrari motor and recall the question: "How would you like a career in Southern law enforcement?"
3 - A. Farrow
This Is a Very Good Jan Hammer Interview That Was Done Here On This Webpage!!,I've Been Following The Career of Jan Hammer Ever Since I Started Tuning Into Miami Vice Back In 1985 When The Show Was Ending It's 2nd Season and I Was Very Happy When I Found Out That He Released a 2 CD Set W. Some of The Instrumentals That He Did for The Series When He Was Scoring from 1984 to 1988!!.I'm Hoping to See More Stuff of Jan's In The Near Future Maybe Even Another MV CD Revival as Well!!.There's Been Some Talk About A Movie Version of Miami Vice and If It Is I'm Hoping That They'll Get Jan to Do The Film Score as Well!!
4 - Ed Driscoll
A. Farrow,
Thanks for the kind words--glad you liked the interview!
Ed
5 - Amador
The best interview I ever read about the legendary Jan Hammer!!