Hi Anton,

I'm just replying to the Jacques Loussier question you posed a while back (which version of his Air on a G String was used in the Hamlet ads). I'm not 100pc sure I can give you the info you're looking for but I've become obsessed with the same question and I think the answer is - it's not Jacques Loussier! This is a bit controversial; everywhere I've looked says it IS him, Wikipedia included - in fact it's supposed to be what JL is most famous for - but I'm nearly certain it's not. The evidence is as follows (bear with me, as some of this is a bit musically technical): I've listened to all of JL's recordings of the piece that I can find, including the one most often cited (on his Play Bach Vol 2 recording from the 1960s) and it's definitely none of those. Secondly, the Hamlet ads use at least three different recordings (and that's just the Loussier-style jazz piano versions - there are a couple with different instruments), in at least three different keys (D, Db and C). I think JL only recorded it in C. Also, the Hamlet ad versions are slower, and the "classic" versions of the ad (at least in my opinion) from the late 70s/early 80s, eg the one in the bunker, the one in the photobooth and the one in the restaurant with the guy and his wig etc, all start the theme with a major 7th chord, which is different from any of the Loussier versions.

Unless I'm very much mistaken, the Hamlet ads have used their own musicians and done a sort of tribute to Loussier (he's undoubtedly the inspiration, as he invented this genre of Bach-jazz). But actually they've improved on him, in my opinion, as their versions are even more relaxed and cool than JL's.

You can get a good selection of the ads on YouTube, just search for CDP Classic ads - Hamlet Cigars (1966 - 1997). If you listen closely to the music, you can hear it's quite different from any of the JL recordings (at least any that I'm aware of).

This makes sense to me, because an ad company that's re-working a concept over decades, as the Hamlet people did, are going to play around with aspects of it, eg the music. My guess is that the umpteenth time the musicians recorded it they came up with the major 7th chord, which sounds great, and thought, we'll keep that.

Of course, I could be wrong! If you ever find a JL recording that exactly fits the ads then please let me know. But, having exhaustively searched for one, I'm nearly sure it doesn't exist.

Anyway, hope that helps.

Best,
Chris