Interesting piece of JH trivia

[Dadrian]

while exchanging some info with rick leon the other day, he mentioned something about jan hammer being sued for some drum samples. i'd never heard of this, so i checked it out.David Earle Jones was the great percussionist in the Jan Hammer Group.i copied this from jones' wiki:"David was against the use of "sampled sounds", as Hammer used samples of David's rare Nigerian Log Drums on the Miami Vice soundtrack without David's permission. This resulted in a lawsuit which David ultimately lost."i did some more digging and found out that jones was infuriated when he tuned into the show and heard his drums on many songs. hammer's management argued that jones wanted money for doing nothing.jones died in 1998.if the wiki description of the instrument is correct, they seem to be describing a sound that was indeed in many cues, esp. where 3rd world elements were in the show (whatever works, tale of the goat, etc.). the first example that comes to my mind though is on "columbia" from prodigal son. the sounds starts at about 5 seconds in, and reemerges here and there through out the song. they kind of sound like a marimba (another african instrument). maybe i'm thinking of the wrong sound. i've heard lots if different log drum sounds.anyone know the skinny on this?

[airtommy]

Don't know anything about it, but it's definitely interesting and I always did like those drums.There was the interesting case in his unpublished No Exit tune (heard in the teaser and elsewhere) where he intentionally had the percussion resemble the Phil Collins tune "I Don't Care Anymore" used later in the episode. That might have something to do with why that tune was not published nor did it reappear on the show (I think?)

[Dadrian]

this was mentioned in Keyboard Mag '85 interview. i never though of that from a legal end. i just assumed that he thought it was not developed enough to be a stand-alone song. i would love to have it anyway. i think i could cover someday.

[Matt5]

this was mentioned in Keyboard Mag '85 interview. i never though of that from a legal end. i just assumed that he thought it was not developed enough to be a stand-alone song. i would love to have it anyway. i think i could cover someday.

Interesting - never knew that.Airtommy raised any interesting point when JH had the "No Exit" theme drums to resemble the PC hit in that same episode. The other way around but reminds me of "Killshot" from Season 3 in the teaser when they use "Eminence Front " by The Who when that starts with the percussion it sounds like a JH composition .

[COOPER&BURNETT]

Now THIS is right up my alley!I had not heard of this one, and I've heard just about every one with JAN HAMMER.I would assume, legally speaking of course, that even IF Jan ADMITTED to sampling the drum sound from him, legally, it's perfectly fine. Here's why Legally he could do it.1. David did NOT invent the sound or the instrument. It is not exclusive to him.2. David's lawyers would have to prove that David was damaged financially.3. It can't be classified as music copyright, as a melody is legally classified at 8 consecutive notes. Great topic!

[Dadrian]

there was an essay that a berkeley student posted online about the case. it had some stuff of that nature in it, coop, but not exactly.i can't find it now, though. maybe i've typed the name "david earle jones' wrong. maybe rick leon will see this and help me out.