Jeffrey Hammond

Jeffrey Hammond Hammond
Jeffrey Hammond in concert with Jethro Tull, 1973
Background information
Birth name	Jeffrey Hammond
Born	(1946-07-30) 30 July 1946 (age 70) Blackpool, Lancashire, England
Origin	Blackpool, England
Genres	Progressive rock, Folk rock, Hard rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Bass guitar, vocals, recorder, double bass
Years active	1971–75, 1987–88, 1994
Associated acts	Jethro Tull

Jeffrey Hammond (born 30 July 1946) sometimes credited as Jeffrey Hammond-Hammond, is an artist, musician, and former bass guitar player for the progressive rock band Jethro Tull.

Hammond adopted the name "Hammond-Hammond" as a joke, since both his father's name and mother's maiden name were the same. He also joked in interviews that his mother defiantly chose to keep her maiden name, just like Eleanor Roosevelt.

One of several band members from Blackpool, England, he met band leader Ian Anderson in school when he was 17 years old, eventually joining a band with Anderson and future Jethro Tull members John Evan and Barriemore Barlow. After leaving Grammar School, he opted to study painting rather than continue with music, but he was convinced to join Jethro Tull in January 1971. Before joining the band as a performer, Hammond appears to have spent much time with the band in the background. Ian Anderson wrote songs about his friend's idiosyncrasies, of which the best known are "A Song for Jeffrey" (This Was), "Jeffrey Goes to Leicester Square" (Stand Up) and "For Michael Collins, Jeffrey and Me" (Benefit). Introducing the first song, in the days before Hammond joined the band, Anderson would portray him in slightly condescending terms as someone with emotional problems who lost his way easily, as described in the first line of the song. His eventual appearance as a band member, therefore, was something of a surprise. Hammond is also namechecked in the lyrics of the Benefit track, "Inside".

Hammond is credited with creating the "claghorn", a hybrid instrument. He took the mouthpiece and bell from a toy saxophone and attached them to the body of a flute. The result can be heard on the track "Dharma for One" on the album This Was.

During the time of Tull's dramatic stage costumes, Jeffrey started wearing a black and white striped suit and played a matching bass guitar, and this became his trademark and a feature of Tull's Thick as a Brick stage performance. Hammond narrated the surreal piece "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" on the album A Passion Play, and the related short film. He also received credit, along with Anderson and John Evan, for writing the piece.