Bobby Hammack - 1950s

One of the biggest names in Space Age Pop was Bobby Hammack. Born in Brookston, Texas, 1922. Hammock learned piano and trombone as a child and led dance bands while in high school and college. He entered the University of Texas at Austin in 1938 to study music and joined the Army Air Force in the summer of 1942. After the War, Hammack moved to Los Angeles and played with Red Nichols' Five Pennies band. As part of Nichols' outfit, he appeared in a few films and began to work as a studio session keyboardist. He arranged several pieces for Bob Crosby, Tony Osborne, and Lawrence Welk.

During the Fifties, Hammack had a quarter-hour radio program on ABC featuring the Bobby Hammock Quartet. The program was carried later on AFRTS with the Bobby Hammack Quintet. The program featured Hammack's rendition Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" (1937, Brunswick) as theme music. Since the radio programs are 15 mins. each, I put two Bobby Hammack shows back to back.