Hammer Time: Talking Vice with the Legendary Composer - Page 3

He heard it, and both him and Thomas loved it, and then I still wrote a few more things, just to try some things, but we ended up going to the original [theme song], that was written even before I met them.

Ed: How did you decide what the show would sound like? Was there a certain tone or style you were going for?

Jan: I would say that the signature sound for the theme, and for the primary thematic material for the pilot was all pretty much based on what I was into at the time. You know what I mean? I wasn't like a conscious decision where I thought, "Well, I'm going to make it sound like this."

That was the kind of music I was making at the time, and it just really worked, because it had this sort of a dark edge, and it was driving. But it also had a very rhythmic element including percussion like congas and things, which really fit nicely with the whole idea of Miami, and the whole Latin culture, and how the pulse really works there.

From there it really branched out into...you name it. There were episodes that were very much jazzy. And then there were episodes that had a much more hard rock, distorted feel. And it just went back and forth from that to more classical shaped things. And I was able to do every week, basically a different approach.

To me, that was just an ideal situation, because I'm always way, way all over the map. And it can be drawback, if people want to pigeonhole you, and especially for marketing people: they really don't know what to do with me-I was always a nightmare. once you get a trademark thing that you're known for, you're expected to do it over and over until the day you die. And I'm just not really capable of doing that. And that's why I've had so many sorts of nine lives in my musical career, starting as a totally straight, acoustic jazz pianist, with Sarah Vaughn.

Whatever Works

Ed: When you were doing the TV show, you were doing all that solo, right?

Jan: That's right.

Ed: Had anybody recorded a TV soundtrack solo before?

Jan: I would doubt it, because the technology wasn't there, until you had the Fairlight, where you really had the whole pallet of sound, and also, I was really able to use it, because I've not only a keyboard player and a drummer, and my solo playing was closely linked to a guitar sound, and a guitar approach. So with those three things, you pretty cover the whole spectrum. And there's not many people who can do those many different instruments, and make them work.

Article Author: Ed Driscoll

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