Loved this band.Saw Jeffery with them!

Jeffrey was a titan of stage presence. He rivaled Ian onstage - the only Tull member ever to do so. His striped suit and bass is the best stage outfit I've ever seen. He was funny and badass and brought such a personality to the band. Even if he was told what to play, he still played it with an incredible style and in a way that only he could. No other Tull bass player ever replicated Jeffrey's parts with the same swagger. Minstrel in the Gallery is one of the best bass tracks ever and encapsulates everything that Jeffrey brought to the band. Such a mighty sound.

I had just entered HS when I first saw Tull & TAAB w/ Hammond ... That concert marked the official beginnings of my teenage years ... I became an immediate "TullFreak" as they were called around here. The next year I saw Passion Play front row 12 at Madison Sq Garden... Both shows Hammond was so charasmatic, my eyes constantly drawn to him ... The TAAB show, while Anderson was strumming an acoustic guitar, i can still hear Jefferey saying something like "Ian is playing a rhythmic link sequence of alternating bars of C minor and F major ... " .. I think Hammond was the perfect counter balance for Anderson. Anderson was a quite intense fellow and Hammond seemed to bring some levity that came through in the music and stage performances. Ive always thought that something undefinable was missing after Hammond left... Tull had lost a bit of its magic to me... Hammond's personality was such an influencing factor in the years he was there.

It is often said that Hammond-Hammond was not a great bassist and lines had to be shown to him (at least in his beginnings with Tull). Be that as it may, I feel his contributions were great and always exactly right. Given he played on some of Tull's most complex albums, he can't have been that technically restrained! His eccentricity is very charming and was an integral part of the band.

THE BASS AND GUITAR LINES FOR MINSTREL IN THE GALLERY ARE A MILESTONE

I had the pleasure of interviewing him 2-3 years ago when he came and exhibited his paintings at my university in Blackpool. Safe to say we got side tracked talking about his time in Tull :) he is such a nice guy, great sense of humour.

Ian is the leader but Jeffrey remains the mythological figure of the band Jethro Tull somehow with his brief magical appearance and disappearance the remains so profound and whimsical. The short video of the “Hair who lost his spectacles” is maybe one of those hi-lights in retrospect in the entire cannon of classic rock.

Jeffrey IS the Hare. Everybody tries to tell a young artist what to do, but he knows what he's up to all along. He promised Ian five years when he joined, and then he was on his way.

He was my favorite Tull bassist!

His horizontal /vertical line suits are legendary!He might not be as technically as proficient as John Glascock but Jeffrey was amazing.

From all accounts I’ve read, Ian doesn’t make friends easily and is a somewhat ‘closed’ person. Jeffrey was, and remains, his friend - the only personal friend who has ever been a band member. I think Ian wanted him in the band so he could have someone he trusted and could confide in during Tull’s rapid ascent of the early seventies. All credit to Jeffrey for keeping his word, becoming a competent musician and an asset to the band, then leaving once he felt he’d done his time. Ian became increasingly isolated after Jeffrey left.

I was 17 yrs. and went to the Passion Play concert in Ft Worth back then . I never forgot how he moved all over the place hitting that bass , best concert I ever saw almost , I saw Jethro Tull about 10 times!!!

I just came across this. How delightful! Thanks for sharing all your wonderful memories of Tull concerts with Jeffrey. I had the pleasure of meeting him in October, 2008 at a Jethro Tull convention in Italy, where I performed an acoustic Tull tribute set with my then partner (now husband) Paul Forrest. I'll never forget when we chatted to him, he explained that he no longer plays bass, just paints. We responded by saying "we know that" whereupon he countered, " hey you guys know more about me than I do!" :-) During the big show of the final night of the convention, Ian invited Jeffrey onto the stage to say a few words and all he said to the crowd was, "Thanks for remembering me". I remember welling up.

Tull filmed that show in Paris in July 1975. Too bad the film was lost. Only the Minstrel in the Gallery segment survives. A true shame.

They WERE brilliant live!

He was a great mate and assistant to the Master of Ceremonies, and Musical Genius, Ian Anderson. He was a key part of four outstanding Tull albums : Aqualung; Thick as a Brick; Passion Play; and Minstrel in the Gallery. Pity he gave up the Bass Guitar for the paint-brush but everyone has to follow his muse. The Band played on without him because the heart, soul, and brains of Tull is, was, and always will be Ian Anderson. Tull had great instrumentalists like Jeffrey, Martin Barre, Barriemore Barlow, and John Evan, but they all payed second fiddle to multi-instrumentalist and creative mainspring of the Band, Ian Anderson, who is a musical genius on a par with, if not above, Lennon and McCartney, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Pete Townsend, and Roger Waters.

There is a great interview of Ian Anderson with Rick Wakeman called face to face where he said Jeffrey Hammond never saw himself as a musician but had an artistic temperament which allowed him to get the music over and that he was only going to do it for 5 years which he did then go back to painting.

Delighted to see this post. I did not realize there was such appreciation for Jeffrey but I was at the Passion Play show in OKC the summer of 1973. I recall being amazed at Jeffrey on Crosseyed Mary leaping up in the air to plant himself on the entry bass note, wow! And, seeing Ian going from one instrument to the next, including clarinet. I miss those days with the theatrics, energy and enthusiasm.

He played on Passion Play and Thick as a brick. Not a bad bassist at all! I never saw him live. Such a shame there's so little footage.

I was a huge fan of Jeffrey also. As energetic as everyone in the band was in concert, he was the only one who could force me to take my eyes off Ian. I recall one of his best moments when a balloon floated onstage from the audience, and without missing a beat as he was boppin' about he kicked it back with perfect timing. And yes, he seems to be the only ex-Tull member whom Ian still holds in high regard. A friend of Ian's since their schooldays, along with John Evan(s) and Barrie Barlow, but the only one who still gets along with Ian nowadays. I suspect it's cuz Ian, who has done some painting of his own, prob'ly admires Jeffrey's talent in this regard.

My favorite Tull bassist. Sux he left and burnt his stage clothes!

Good old times of Jeffro Tull!

The Hammond years were the best years of Tull. From Aqualung to Thick As a Brick to A Passion Play to WarChild to Minstrel In The Gallery. Thank you for this video.

I was there in the Pool for passion play ! Stunning !

Enjoyable video, thanks. Still seems remarkable that he made enough money from those few years to buy a substantial Gloucestershire pile and do whatever he wanted for the rest of his life, though marrying an Iranian princess may have helped.

Hammond was a big fan of Capt. Beefheart and the Magic Band. As chance would have it the MB were touring and joined Tull as an opener for later TAAB shows. If you watch vids of ‘72’ Magic Band you’ll notice EVERYONE on stage is moving- always! Especially bassist Mark Boston, and he has that same style hat, a suit and moves. It’s uncanny. Jeffery Hammond- Rockette Morton- Hammond

I was among the enthralled at the RAH, in April 1972. Ahh!

Nice story thanks for sharing 🙂👍

Nice article. I was at that gig at Plymouth Guildhall in 1971 - Steeleye Span support. Jeffrey in like a green-ish camouflage jump suit and wearing aeroplane pilot goggles. Saw them in Plymouth again the following year with TAAB and Tir na nOg support. Both gigs amazing but TAAB was a whole new level. Didn’t see them again until Brixton in 1977 on the SFTW tour.

suit. passion play JHH equals awesome nice tribute.

Thanks

‘75 Jackson Tennessee. Zebra dances onstage and shits 3 zebra striped balls which Jeffrey proceeds to juggle. Unforgettable show and a lasting impression

How did a guy who couldn't read music play Passion Play or Thick as a Brick? He must have practiced and practiced and practiced.

On the Warchild tour Jeffrey had two roadies in a zebra disguise on stage dancing and then the zebra expell 3 tennis balls that Jeffrey use to joggle and trow the balls to the crowd...just a crazy funny interlude having Jeffrey in black and white liner costume with matching zebra..hehe

Glenn might have been musically more proficient, but Jeffrey moved more rhythmically with the music. It looked as if he expended twice the energy of Ian onstage during the PP tour.

"I looked like a complete nob...but you could get away with it - just!" I'm ROTFLMAO!! Great!!

I saw Till twice with JH, Aqualung and P.P. he was a favorite in his striped suit.I heard a wild rumor a while ago (I didn't believe it) that he became a woman after a sex change.How do these things start?

Glenn Cornick was fired by Ian Anderson because he partied too much and had women even though he was married. Ian was very straight and frowned on partying and drugs as well as fooling around with women. Still Glenn was Tull's best player they ever had. A big mistake to get rid of him.