Jazz musician Bobby Hackett - 'one of the finest natural musicians in the business' according to Muggsy Spanier - began his career in the 1930s; it ended with his death in 1976. An extensively researched discography of the vast number of recorded sessions in which Hackett took part during these decades forms the essential core of this substantial book. It is prefaced with the fascinating biographical insights gathered from the articles, reviews, news stories, meetings and interviews which the editors accumulated as they worked, and illustrated throughout with contemporary photographs, advertising, and record labels and covers. Detailed indexes feature both the famous and the influential - Louis Armstrong, Eddie Condon, Jackie Gleason, Horace Heidt, Glenn Miller, Lee Wiley among them - and the lesser-known working musicians and artists of the era. Prompted by Hackett's death, this work of research started with hand-written index cards, and progressed through typewriters and several generations of word processors and computer operating systems; its publication is a realisation not only of Bobby Hackett's life in music, and place in a period of musical history, but also of an enthusiasm sustained through personal acquisitions, friendships and travel - and listening to a lot of jazz!
Industry Reviews
'[The] the 630-plus pages of this book (in a readable typeface, for which we give thanks) are detailed yet unfussy and thoroughly informative. It contains twenty rare photographs and an equal number of record label scans. The book is divided in three parts: after the acknowledgments, there is a fifty-page section of reminiscences ... as well as on-the-spot pieces about appearances of Hackett and bands from 1943 on. Hackett was an early recording/stereo equipment enthusiast, and Hulme has written an intriguing essay on that facet of his life. From there, a truly informative musical biography, organized chronologically, which offers reviews of performances, details of sessions, gigs, and recordings. I find such assemblages of detail fascinating (especially because Hulme and Whyatt offer reasoned research rather than conjecture or repetitions of debatable facts). The remainder of the book - some four hundred pages - is a beautifully clear, well-organized discography, ending with pages of "discographical mysteries," a bibliography, and two detailed indices. It is a worthy tribute to a musician whose work never disappoints... [and], because it's paperbound, is surprisingly affordable. I recommend it with the greatest enthusiasm.' Michael Steinman, jazzlives, March 2016; 'This book is an excellent reference work on a jazzman, whose name is familiar enough, but whose biographical details in other reference books are often sparse or restricted to a list of gigs and selected recordings. It's divided into two main parts: his life and his recordings. The first part is further sub-divided into sections on his instrument, his style, appreciations from those who knew and worked with him, and six decades of biographical material, all of which are usefully number-coded for easy cross referencing. The second part is an exhaustive discography, which details every recording session, commercial and private, that the authors have been able to trace, as well as the many broadcasts, ... legally or illegally recorded. One of the most interesting parts of the book is a short section devoted to other musicians' thoughts about Bobby Hackett. Alec Wilder describes him as "poet and essayist...tender and witty"; Dick Cary: "the most exciting fact...was that his solos were actually compositions..."; Lache Shaw describes his tone "as if a series of glorious church bells were being struck by a sensitive mallet." Hackett himself said of music in general: "Real greatness is in simplicity". That's as good an epitaph as any jazzman might expect.' From a Review by Max Easterman, VJM, 2015; 'Bobby Hackett's is a name that brings a smile to the face of almost everyone who loves mainstream jazz. ... He has a large number of devoted fans who still, almost forty years after he left the scene, listen often and raptly to his recordings. ... This volume was obviously a labor of love for the two authors. Their dedication to Hackett's legacy is impressive and appealing. It is a highly readable book, and will serve as an indispensable resource for those who are interested in exploring the music of Bobby Hackett. It is also likely to send you scurrying around looking for some gems that have escaped your attention.' Joe Lang, Jersey Jazz.
