Robert Leo Hackett (January 31, 1915 – June 7, 1976) was a skilled American jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet, and guitar. He performed swing music, Dixieland jazz, and mood music, which is now known as easy listening. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he played swing music with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman. From the 1930s into the 1970s, he performed Dixieland jazz with many important musicians in the field. During the 1950s, he played solo parts on the first ten albums of the many Jackie Gleason mood music recordings.

Biography

Bobby Hackett was born in Providence, Rhode Island, United States. His father worked as a blacksmith, and his mother was a housewife. Because his family was poor and had nine children, he left school at age 14 to play guitar and violin in a band at a local Chinese restaurant. After seeing Louis Armstrong perform, he learned to play the cornet and trumpet. "I've never been the same since," he told New Yorker jazz critic Whitney Balliett in 1969. "That man was and is the greatest hot-trumpet player in jazz." In Providence, he played in several local bands, then in Syracuse, New York, and on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. He spent a few seasons in a band in Boston and Providence with Brad Gowans and clarinetist Pee Wee Russell, then led another band in Boston. After jazz critic George Frazier praised him in several articles, he moved to New York City in 1937. He first played with clarinetist Joe Marsala and later spent a year playing at Nick's, a Greenwich Village bar known for its Dixieland music. There, he joined other Dixieland musicians, including Pee Wee Russell, Brad Gowans, Zutty Singleton, Billy Butterfield, Dave Tough, Joe Sullivan, and Eddie Condon.

Although he always said he followed Louis Armstrong's style, he became known for imitating cornet player Bix Beiderbecke. In 1938, Benny Goodman hired the 23-year-old to perform Bix's "I'm Coming Virginia" solo at his 1938 Carnegie Hall concert.

In the late 1930s, Hackett played lead trumpet in the Vic Schoen Orchestra, which supported the Andrews Sisters.

In the 1940 Fred Astaire movie Second Chorus, Hackett's trumpet playing can be heard on the soundtrack. He played the trumpet parts for Fred Astaire in two scenes. In the movie, Astaire is shown as a trumpet player in Artie Shaw's orchestra.

In 1939, the talent agency MCA asked Bobby Hackett to form a big band with its support. When the band failed, he owed MCA a large amount of money. He joined the bands of Horace Heidt and Glenn Miller in 1941 and 1942 to pay this debt. His lip was in poor condition after dental surgery, making it hard to play the trumpet or cornet. Glenn Miller offered him a job as a guitarist. "When I joined the band and I was making good money at last, […] [jazz critics] accused me of selling out. Hell I wasn't selling out, I was selling in! It's funny, isn't it, how you go right into the wastebasket with some critics the minute you become successful."

Despite his lip problems, Hackett could play short solos. He played with the Glenn Miller Orchestra on the 1942 recording "A String of Pearls." Hackett called this solo "just a little exercise." Balliett said the twelve-bar solo "remains in its design (scale), tone (moonlike), and lyricism (Bach) one of the recorded improvisational wonders."

In the mid-1940s, he was in Glen Gray's orchestra for two years. In 1946, he joined the music staff at ABC, where he worked for 15 years. This gave Hackett a steady income. He continued live performances and recordings while there. He played regularly at Eddie Condon's and other clubs.

A dream come true for Hackett was his inclusion in Louis Armstrong's 1947 Town Hall Jazz Concert. He was the music director and played second cornet. Balliett said of the concert, "Hackett's background figures made Louis Armstrong sound like a nightingale."

In November 1947, he recorded two songs with Frank Sinatra. The first, "I've Got a Crush on You," was arranged and conducted by George Siravo with a small group. It was released the same year and reached number 21 on the pop charts. On November 9, he recorded "Body and Soul" with Sinatra and a large orchestra arranged and conducted by Alex Stordahl. This recording was released in June 1949 as part of Sinatra's fourth Columbia album, Frankly Sentimental. Two other versions of the song were later released by Columbia.

Hackett took a leave of absence from ABC from 1951 to 1952 to organize a septet that played in several nightclubs, including New York's The Embers. Five years later, he organized another sextet that performed at the Henry Hudson Hotel and several jazz festivals.

His profile increased after he was hired by Jackie Gleason as a cornet soloist for seven of Gleason's mood music albums. Beginning in 1952, he appeared on Gleason's first Capitol Records album, Music for Lovers Only. The record, as well as all of Gleason's next 10 albums, went gold. He appeared on six more of Gleason's albums. This association led directly to his signing with Capitol Records and performing trumpet and flugelhorn solos on several popular albums, including the best-selling concept albums of Frank Sinatra. In 2001, when Mosaic Records released The Complete Capitol Bobby Hackett Solo Sessions on a five-CD limited edition set, most of the tracks were from Gleason's mood music albums. According to the liner notes, Hackett was paid $30,000 to $40,000 for six albums for Gleason.

In 1954, he appeared as a regular on the ABC variety show The Martha Wright Show, also known as The Packard Showroom.

In 1965, he toured with singer Tony Bennett. In 1966 and 1967, he accompanied Bennett on two European tours. In the early 1970s, he performed separately with Dizzy Gillespie and Teresa Brewer.

In 2012, Hackett was selected to be inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Hackett married Edna Lillian Lee Hackett in 1937. Edna passed away in 2000. The Hacketts mostly lived in New York City and spent their summers on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They had a daughter named Barbara, who died in 2003, and a son named Ernie, who died in 2025. Ernie became a professional drummer.

Hackett was a member of the Freemasons and was actively involved with St. Cecile Lodge #568, a lodge that is for musicians and artists.

Hackett died in 1976 from a heart attack when he was 61 years old.

Discography

• 1930–40 – In order of time (Classics, Unknown)
• 1943–47 – In order of time (Classics, Unknown)
• 1948–54 – In order of time (Classics, Unknown)
• August 1950 – Jazz Session (CBS, 1980)

• 1953–54 – Soft Lights and Bobby Hackett (Capitol, 1954)
• 1954 – In a Mellow Mood (Capitol, 1955)
• October 1955 – Coast Concert (Capitol, 1956)
• March 1957 – Gotham Jazz Scene (Capitol, 1957)
• 1956 – Rendezvous (Capitol, 1957)
• Bobby Hackett At The Embers (Capitol, 1958)
• Don't Take Your Love from Me (Capitol, 1958)
• Jazz Ultimate with Jack Teagarden (Capitol, 1958)
• The Bobby Hackett Quartet (Capitol, 1959)
• Blues with a Kick (Capitol, 1959)
• Hawaii Swings (Capitol, 1960)
• Dream Awhile (Columbia, 1960)
• The Most Beautiful Horn in the World (Columbia, 1962)
• Night Love (Columbia, 1962)
• Bobby Hackett Plays Henry Mancini (Epic, 1962)
• Plays the Music of Bert Kaempfert (Epic, 1964)
• Hello Louis!: Plays the Music of Louis Armstrong (Epic, 1964)
• Trumpets' Greatest Hits (Epic, 1965)
• A String of Pearls (Epic, 1965)
• Trumpet de Luxe with Billy Butterfield (CBS [Japan], 1966)
• January 1967 – Creole Cookin (Verve, 1967)
• 1967 – That Midnight Touch (Project 3, 1967)
• 1967 – A Time for Love (Project 3, 1967)
• August 1967 – Bobby/Billy/Brazil (Verve, 1968)
• November 1968 – This Is My Bag (Project 3, 1969)
• April–May 1969 – Live at the Roosevelt Grill Vol. 1–4 (Chiaroscuro, 1970) Vol. 1 was reissued as Featuring Vic Dickenson at the Roosevelt Grill (Chiaroscuro, 1977)
• 1970 – The Bobby Hackett Four with Dave McKenna (Hyannisport, 1972)
• 1972 – Bobby Hackett and Vic Dickenson at the Royal Box (Hyannisport, 1972)
• 1973 – What a Wonderful World (Flying Dutchman, 1973)
• August 1974 – Strike Up the Band (Flying Dutchman, 1975)
• May 1973 – Live in New Orleans (Riff, 1976) With Ted Easton's Jazzband
• 1975 – Butterfly Airs Vol. 1 (Honey Dew, 1977)
• 1975 – Butterfly Airs Vol. 2 (Honey Dew, 1977)
• 1976 – Tin Roof Blues (Honey Dew, 1977)

• Music for Lovers Only (Capitol, 1952)
• Music to Make You Misty (Capitol, 1953)
• Music, Martinis, and Memories (Capitol, 1954)
• Jackie Gleason Presents Autumn Leaves (Capitol, 1955)
• Music to Remember Her (Capitol, 1955)
• Music to Change Her Mind (Capitol, 1956)
• Jackie Gleason Presents Music for the Love Hours (Capitol, 1957)
• Jackie Gleason Presents Lush Musical Interludes for That Moment (Capitol, 1959)
• The Most Beautiful Girl in the World (Pickwick/33, 1967)

With others: Frankie Laine (1955, "Te Amo")

• Louis Armstrong, Town Hall (RCA Victor, 1957)
• Tony Bennett, The Very Thought of You (Columbia, 1965)
• Tony Bennett, A Time for Love (Columbia, 1966)
• Teresa Brewer, Good News (Signature, 1974)
• Ruth Brown, Ruth Brown (Atlantic, 1957)
• Jim Cullum Jr., Goose Pimples (Audiophile, 1967)
• Eddie Condon, Bixieland (credited as Pete Pesci, Columbia, 1955)
• Eddie Condon, Midnight in Moscow (Epic, 1962)
• Eddie Condon, Eddie Condon On Stage (Saga, 1973)
• Dizzy Gillespie, Giants (Perception, 1971)
• Benny Goodman, The Famous 1938 Carnegie Hall Jazz Concert (Columbia, 1950)
• Bill Kenny, I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You (Decca, 1951)
• Glenn Miller, A String of Pearls (Bluebird, 1941)
• Glenn Miller, Rhapsody in Blue (Victor, 1942)
• Frank Sinatra, I've Got a Crush on You (Columbia, 1947)
• Frank Sinatra, Body and Soul (Columbia, 1947)
• Jack Teagarden, Jack Teagarden!!! (Verve, 1962)
• Lee Wiley, Night in Manhattan (Columbia, 1955)