Bobby Hackett - Soft Lights In a Mellow Mood (24 tracks) +Album Reviews

More Mellower, Please

07/01/2001

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Hackett is a wonderful trumpet player, but the Soft Lights section is not the dreamy mellow music I wanted. On Soft Lights, he sounds more like a cross between a dixieland jazz player and a mood music player. His trumpet has a brighter sound than I would like, and I would prefer less use of trumpet mutes. The Mellow Mood section is more to my liking, but not as dreamy as the music he played on the Jackie Gleason recordings, which I prefer. Nonetheless, he is a great player, and if you like to hear a trumpet master, you'll enjoy his performances."

Hackett Gems Finally on CD

Steve Emerine | Tucson, AZ United States | 03/13/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Collectors' Choice Music has finally pried the first two of trumpeter Bobby Hackett's ballad albums out of the Capitol vaults for release on CD. "Soft Lights and Bobby Hackett" and "In a Mellow Mood" were two of Hackett's best romantic LPs and this reissue combines all 24 tunes into a great package. It's far superior to the more common Hackett ballad CDs for the Project 3 and Pair labels. We can only hope that a second double-LP reissue of the great trumpeter's Capitol ballads is already in the works. Be on the lookout, meanwhile, for a Collectors' Choice reissue of two Dixieland albums by Hackett and trombonist Jack Teagarden."

Who says you can't swing with strings?

Nick DeCarlis | Gainesville, FL USA | 03/15/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Soft Lights and Bobby Hackett was originally released as a 10 inch LP. After 12" LP's became the norm, Bobby went and recorded four addtional tracks to fill out the original album. This is one of the earliest examples of Hackett's "mature" style, with full facility and tone. And he swings like crazy with a string section consisting of four violas and a cello! This is some very tasteful jazz that you'll return to over and over. While it is normally described as "mood music," I take issue with that, as only a few of the cuts are ballads -- the majority of numbers are medium to up-tempo swing. The second album on this CD, in a Mellow Mood, is definitely more accurately described as mood music. But on this album there is no string section, but rather a reliance on reeds. Great playing of course, but ballads. My advice is to buy this CD while you can. Hackett's prime years with Capitol have only been available on vinyl until now, and there's no telling how long this CD will remain in release."

The Mellowest of Hackett.......What a Horn!

Robert J. Ament | Ballwin, MO United States | 07/22/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"We're talking the best......excluding his soulful solos on the Jackie Gleason Orchestra offerings. I had the vinyl of "In A Mellow Mood" for 44 years but had never obtained "Soft Lights"...my joy knows no bounds!Bobby was certainly the most sophisticated and stylishly lyrical cornet player I've ever had the pleasure of hearing. I have other works of his (still on vinyl) but this is certainly his best of the light swing and romantic approach.If you like standards, jazz, Bobby Hackett, the best lyrical horn to be heard, the romantic approach, light swing.......in any of or all of those combinations.......this IS a must!"

Bobby Hackett's Masterpiece in Circulation Again !!!!!

Mark E. Farrington | Albany, NY | 10/13/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am too young to have known these 2 LPs when they were "new."

A college friend of mine ( Hi, Paul ! ) got me into pre-Bop jazz, Big Band, and Swing...

As a fledgling trumpeter I wanted an example to follow,

of how to put across a melody- simply, but vitally...My friend

loaned me an old, scratched-up turquoise-label copy of IN A MELLOW MOOD.

I was tantalized enough to locate another copy in a second-hand shop.

We "pooled" both copies; we HAD to, in order to get a listenable version of each side...

And I learned about melody.

Song and mood... and a Goldilock's-porridge-"just right" mixture of

poetry and swing...Some tracks with full band accompaniment, some with a

George Shearing Quintet-style backup. The results are

very nearly too good...The kind of music

that "Muzak" often tried to imitate, sans success...This is it. "Carefree" is just that,

leaving wistfulness and sassiness in its wake. And in Webster's Dictionary, the entry for "lyricism" should read: SEE BOBBY HACKETT'S "Serenade in Blue," "Deep Night," "Mood Indigo," and "Flamingo." Not to mention "You're My Thrill" and the perfect "Rain" (track 22); just listen to Bobby's last, long-held note -

how, through sheer beauty of tone, he holds your interest and caps the tune

with just a touch of non-chalance.

One of the most beautiful "mood" albums in the history of jazz or pop.

(This album is both, like it or not.)

I understand the joy of other reviewers here- the ones

who grew up with this music and have come upon it again after so long.

SOFT LIGHTS is a more up-tempo album, perfect in its own way.

But IN A MELLOW MOOD is Bobby Hackett's masterpiece.

It doesn't get much better than this...

Buy it for your friends, your loved ones, your enemies,

BUY IT.

"

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