| "Hammerhead" | |
|---|---|
| Instrumental by Jeff Beck | |
| from the album Emotion & Commotion | |
| Released | 13 April 2010 |
| Genre | Hard rock, instrumental rock |
| Length | 4:15 |
| Label | Atco |
| Composer(s) | Jeff Beck, Jason Rebello |
| Producer(s) | Steve Lipson |
| Emotion & Commotion track listing | |
10 tracks
| |
"Hammerhead" is the second track from Jeff Beck's 2010 album Emotion & Commotion . The instrumental track features Beck on guitar, Jason Rebello on keyboards, Tal Wilkenfeld on bass guitar and Alessia Mattalia on drums. It was written by Beck and Rebello and was produced by Steve Lipson. It won the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
Beck credited composer Jan Hammer for the inspiration for the track. [1] Whereas much of Emotion & Commotion contains orchestral accompaniment, [2] "Hammerhead" is an uptempo rock track reminiscent of Beck's work with The Yardbirds [3] and his 1974 album Blow by Blow . [4] He employs wah-wah pedal and whammy bar effects on his guitar and Wilkenfeld’s bass is distorted. [5]
In February 2011 "Hammerhead" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, [7] he had five previous Grammy Awards in this same category. [8] The other nominees were "Black Mud" by The Black Keys, "Do the Murray" by Los Lobos, "Kundalini Bonfire" by Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, and "The Deathless Horsie" by Dweezil Zappa. [9] It was one of three awards Beck received that night also winning Best Pop Instrumental Performance for "Nessun Dorma" and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for his contribution to "Imagine" from Herbie Hancock's The Imagine Project . [7]
Two live versions of the song have also been commercially released. It is the second track on Beck's Live and Exclusive from the Grammy Museum . On this version drummer Narada Michael Walden and bassist Rhonda Smith join Beck and Rebello. [10] The other live version was recorded live by Beck at the June 2010 Crossroads Guitar Festival and is available on the CD and DVD Crossroads Eric Clapton Guitar Festival 2010. [11] He also played the tune with The Who's touring band at the Killing Cancer benefit concert at the Hammersmith Apollo on 13 January 2011. [12]
Eric Patrick Clapton is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. He ranked second in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and fourth in Gibson's "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". He was named number five in Time magazine's list of "The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players" in 2009.
Geoffrey Arnold Beck was an English guitarist. He rose to prominence as a member of the rock band the Yardbirds, and afterwards founded and fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to an instrumental style with focus on an innovative sound, and his releases spanned genres and styles ranging from blues rock, hard rock, jazz fusion and a blend of guitar-rock and electronica.
Blow by Blow is Jeff Beck's first album credited to him as a solo artist. It was recorded in October 1974 and released via Epic Records in 1975. An instrumental album, it peaked at No. 4 on the American Billboard 200 and was certified platinum by the RIAA.
Steven Lee "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums Down Two Then Left (1977) and Middle Man (1980), and was a prominent contributor to Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982). Lukather has released nine solo albums, the latest of which, Bridges, was released in June 2023.
Jan Hammer is a Czech-American musician, composer, and record producer. He rose to prominence while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra during the early 1970s, as well as with his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the 1980s television program Miami Vice. He has continued to work as both a musical performer and producer.
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band Derek and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Its contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Gordon. The piano part has also been controversially credited to Rita Coolidge, Gordon's girlfriend at the time.
George "Buddy" Guy is an American blues guitarist and singer. He is an exponent of Chicago blues who has influenced generations of guitarists including Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jeff Beck, Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer. In the 1960s, Guy played with Muddy Waters as a session guitarist at Chess Records and began a musical partnership with blues harp virtuoso Junior Wells.
Having a Rave Up with the Yardbirds, or simply Having a Rave Up, is the second American album by the English rock group the Yardbirds. It was released in November 1965, eight months after Jeff Beck replaced Eric Clapton on guitar. It includes songs with both guitarists and reflects the group's blues rock roots and their early experimentations with psychedelic and hard rock. The title refers to the driving "rave up" arrangement the band used in several of their songs.
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Hittin' the Note is the twelfth and final studio album by American rock group the Allman Brothers Band. Released through Sanctuary Records, it is their only studio album to include both slide guitar player Derek Trucks and bass player Oteil Burbridge and marks the full-time return of guitar player Warren Haynes to the band. It was also their only studio album not to include original guitarist Dickey Betts.
Jason Matthew Rebello is a British pianist, songwriter, and record producer.
You Had It Coming is the eighth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in December 2000 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 17 and 110 on the Billboard Top Internet Albums and Billboard 200 charts respectively, as well as No. 96 and 123 on the German and French albums chart. "Dirty Mind", went on to win the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 2002 Grammys; this being Beck's third such award, after the albums Flash (1985) and Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop (1989). Singer Imogen Heap is featured on "Dirty Mind" and "Rollin' and Tumblin'", and would later tour with Beck in 2004.
Jeff Beck's Guitar Shop is the sixth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in October 1989 through Epic Records. The album reached No. 49 on the U.S. Billboard 200 and won the award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance at the 1990 Grammys. This was Beck's second album to win that award, after Flash (1985).
Flash is the fifth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in July 1985 by Epic/CBS Records. The album reached No. 39 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart as well as reaching the top 60 in four other countries.
Tal Wilkenfeld is an Australian bassist, singer and songwriter. She has performed with artists including Chick Corea, Jeff Beck, Prince, Incubus, Eric Clapton, Herbie Hancock, Toto, and Mick Jagger. In 2008, Wilkenfeld was voted "The Year's Most Exciting New Player" in a Bass Player magazine readers' choice poll. In 2013, Wilkenfeld was awarded the Bass Player magazine's "Young Gun Award".
Emotion & Commotion is the tenth studio album by guitarist Jeff Beck, released in April 2010 on Atco Records. In addition to featuring vocal performances by Joss Stone, Imelda May, and Olivia Safe, the album showcases a 64-piece orchestra on several tracks, and includes covers of well-known songs such as "Over the Rainbow", "Corpus Christi Carol", "Lilac Wine", and other rock and classical works.
Live and Exclusive from the Grammy Museum is a live album by Jeff Beck, which was released in October 2010. The album contains performance from April 22, 2010 at the Grammy Museum in front of an intimate crowd of 200.
Performing This Week: Live at Ronnie Scott's is a live album recorded by Jeff Beck, also available on DVD, Blu-ray and streaming, recorded at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, in November, 2007 and released on 10 November 2008. Other performers were Jason Rebello on keyboards, Vinnie Colaiuta on drums and Tal Wilkenfeld on bass. The version of "A Day in the Life" featured on this album was awarded a Grammy for Best Instrumental Rock performance. The version of "Scatterbrain" also featured on this album was placed in the hardest setlist, "Fjord of Swords", of the music video game Guitar Hero 5.
English rock guitarist Jeff Beck played with multiple groups, including the Yardbirds, the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. He released numerous studio, live, compilation, video and soundtrack albums during his career, as well as over twenty singles.
The Yardbirds are an English rock band formed in London in 1963. The band started the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton (1963–1965), Jeff Beck (1965–1966) and Jimmy Page (1966–1968), all of whom ranked in the top five of Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 greatest guitarists. The band's other members during 1963–1968 were vocalist/harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, and bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, with Dreja switching to bass when Samwell-Smith departed in 1966. The band had a string of hits throughout the mid-1960s, including "For Your Love", "Heart Full of Soul", "Shapes of Things", and "Over Under Sideways Down".
| Studio albums | |
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| Live albums | |
| Compilation albums | |
| Soundtracks | |
| Singles | |
| Other songs | |
| Tours | |
| Related articles | |
