Bobby Hackett and his jazz band – Coast Concert
I recently blogged about my father’s 78 rpm records and my conundrum of what to do with these worn and broken discs. Less challenging was finding the above 10 inch LP in amongst them. As with all his records I decided to play it to decide whether it was worth keeping: it certainly was!
Hackett was invited by his record label tin 1955 to put together a band and record some Dixieland. His instrument was cornet, a variation of a type of trumpet with a conical tube rather than straight, this led to a more mellow sound. His sound was modelled on Bix Beiderbecke, a legend of the instrument. Hackett was a master of his instrument and produced a wonderful sound.
Dixieland/traditional jazz was still a style played but was of an era 30 years earlier. By the 1950s Hackett’s schedule included big band music, radio and backing Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to make a living. For this album he chose standards such Royal Garden Blues, Muscat Ramble and Basin Street Blues and he picked some excellent musicians to join him including Jack Teagarden on trombone (who had played with Beiderbecke in the late 1920s.)
This album is so tight with cornet, trombones, clarinet playing the melody, weaving around each other whilst the piano fills in over a rhythm section of drums, guitar and bass/tuba. All of this is acoustic. As is typical of the style the band often take short solos and the soulful interpretations are compelling. The album is instrumental apart from a stellar vocal by Teagarden on Basin Street Blues, which is one my nicest discoveries of 2026.
Tracks alternate between full throated and high pace work outs and then more delicate and spaced slower numbers such as New Orleans. On the high octane numbers I had visions of girls dancing the Charleston in dresses with fringes and bob haircuts as was the fashion in the 1920s. This was recorded in a straight 12 hour session in Los Angeles starting at 5.30pm. Eventually the band wrapped up their session and Hackett put his cornet in its case before planning to catch a flight to New York but not after they all emerged squinting into the sunlight in search of ham and eggs.
As was typical of the era the album notes are fulsome and, frankly, I can’t top this – “the hard to describe quality that makes jazz club ringsiders let the ice melt in their drinks and forget to talk”.
One of my albums of the year.
