db: Do you think you have been influenced by Eastern philosophy?
Hammer:
I'm sure I was. I was touched by it in more ways than one. I had been brought up as a Roman Catholic. I'd say I'm a religious person but I learned that we need something universal rather than sectarian. To me there is no church in the world to give the answers but then I didn't know that. I was into that Catholic trip. I went to church every Sunday when I was home. Now I've learned for the first time in my life that I'm aware of God as opposed to religion. But even more than Eastern philosophy, I was influenced by Arhtur Tannoff [
actually Arthur Janov], who is a doctor who wrote about the primal therapy. That brought me much closer to reality than ever before. He has three books out: "Anatomy of Mental Illness", "Primal Dream", "and Primal Revolution". I read these books. I've never been so enlightened by books in my life.
This brought me to a point where I really had to start facing up to things that I had neglected to face for many years, like 25 years. If I had read the books five years ago I wouldn't have known what he was talking about. Now it's all falling into place. Another thing that really opened my ears was Indian music. I listened to it many times before but I didn't know how to listen. If you don't know how to listen to it, all you hear is a drone. People who listen to it for the first time say it sounds like bad bagpipes. There's more to it than that. The drone after a while just fades into the background and all the other music is superimposed. It's unbelievable! I thought I knew a lot about rhythm but when I really listened to Indian music I realized how little I know. How little we in the West know about rhythm. It's a totally neglected area of music. Indian music uses pulse. Western music is either 4/4 or total craziness which you find in contemporary classical music. They claim they get varied rhythms. Various rhythms doesn't mean it's going to create any tension in the way Indian music would. They build up this incredible tension.
db: Because Eastern influence has affected you, I've heard you are into drums.
Hammer: I consider myself a drummer almost as much as a piano player now. I'm involved. That's why I like playing with Elvin Jones, sitting next to him on stage absorbing his approach and learning. It's school. That's what school's all about. I mean, school is usually sitting in the classroom while the teacher writes something on the blackboard. That's all bullshit. You've got to sit next to your teacher and he plays something and you play something. I mean that's the Indian way, one for one. That's the only way to teach music.
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