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» member profile:
hackdaddy
» genre:
Jazz >
Jazz General
» location:
Mike Hackbert
» label: unsigned
» for fans of: Dave Grusin, Don Ellis, Chuck Mangione, Chucho Valdes
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Hackdaddy
NEWS
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Mike Hackbert (BMI) is the creative force behind Hackdaddy, which provides an outlet for Mike's music projects. Mike has been an active musician since the early 70's, when he began playing brass instruments (trombone, cornet and trumpet). Settling on the trumpet as a primary instrument, Mike was involved with a number of bands and ensembles in high school (Culver Military Academy) and college (Wittenberg University). Mike's composing and arranging skills were honed while working on a double major in music and business at Wittenberg, and are still in use today.
In the 80's and 90's Mike was based in Champaign-Urbana Illinois and could be seen in a number of groups around the area in addition to work as a soloist, in the theatre pits and in local recording studios. The main focus at this time was the group Champaign Brass, a brass quintet founded by Mike in 1986 that is still active today (the rights to Champaign Brass were sold in 2000 when Mike left central Illinois). Mike wrote a considerable number of arrangements for the group in a wide variety of styles to support Champaign Brass' reputation as the premier Brass Quintet in central Illinois.
Mike's main influences are jazz and progressive rock, with some baroque, classic and new age thrown in as well. He has been accused of never finding an added-note chord he didn't like, and is fond of complex ryhthms and time signatures. With Hackdaddy, these creative projects (some are years old, some are months old, some are ony weeks old) from Mike are finding a wider audience for listening and enjoyment.
In the 80's and 90's Mike was based in Champaign-Urbana Illinois and could be seen in a number of groups around the area in addition to work as a soloist, in the theatre pits and in local recording studios. The main focus at this time was the group Champaign Brass, a brass quintet founded by Mike in 1986 that is still active today (the rights to Champaign Brass were sold in 2000 when Mike left central Illinois). Mike wrote a considerable number of arrangements for the group in a wide variety of styles to support Champaign Brass' reputation as the premier Brass Quintet in central Illinois.
Mike's main influences are jazz and progressive rock, with some baroque, classic and new age thrown in as well. He has been accused of never finding an added-note chord he didn't like, and is fond of complex ryhthms and time signatures. With Hackdaddy, these creative projects (some are years old, some are months old, some are ony weeks old) from Mike are finding a wider audience for listening and enjoyment.
Do you play live?
On trumpet, I have played in countless venues from living rooms to stadiums with a variety of groups over the years. The projects on this site have all been realized in the studio.
How, do you think, does the internet (or mp3) change the music industry?
It's a bit of an equalizer; it gives us "little guys" a chance to get our music out in the world to be heard by much larger audiences than were possible in the past.
Would you sign a record contract with a major label?
Certainly, if the terms were acceptable.
Your influences?
Not in any particular order: Don Ellis, Stan Kenton, Ian Polster, Phil Driscoll, Koinonia, Frank Zappa, Chip Davis, Dave Brubeck, Paul Desmond, David Arkenstone, Chicago, BST, EWF, Les Hooper, John Harmon, JS Bach, ELP, PFM, Yes, Oregon, Paul Winter, Particle, Trey Anastasio
Anything else...?
"Liner Notes"
Being one of the (cough, cough) "older" people around here, I actually remember when the primary form of recorded music was the 12" vinyl LP. In fact in the early 80's I was a store manager for Camelot Music and was very much involved with selling vinyl records. One of the great features of LPs are the liner notes that were often included that provided information on the music, lyrics, performers, etc. I know, CDs have liner notes in their inserts/booklets, but I'm remembering liner notes that were in a type size readable by humans. :)
From time to time, I intend to provide "liner notes" for my songs/projects and give some background information and insight as to where/how/why these came about.
"Liner Notes" – Reflections
“Reflections" is the granddaddy of all of the Hackdaddy projects. The first version of this track was written nearly 30 years ago for trumpet and piano, and was performed for a student recital at Wittenberg University. This was somewhat progressive at the time as the vast majority of student recital pieces were from “standard” repertoire that typically was not jazzy and did not contain improvisation. I certainly admit to some inspiration from Chuck Mangione (among others) on this track, with his “Bellavia” probably being the biggest influence.
Reflections resurfaced in the 90’s as a brass quintet piece for Champaign Brass, taking on the form of a trumpet feature with brass quartet accompaniment. It began morphing into the present version a few years ago, and for awhile was a (synthed) trumpet and clarinet duet with piano and string features. The current published version is an acoustic trumpet duet, and also has an expanded strings presence throughout the track.
"Liner Notes" - J D
J D is - you guessed it! - something that got started a long time ago and just got finished recently. This one started out in the practice rooms at Wittenberg, and a very good friend of mine, J. D. liked it alot from the start, hence the name of the song. It was always a juxtaposition of latin and swing, but originally the swing part was a different theme.
The first version of J D actually was finished in the early 90's, but fell victim to a hard drive crash (literally a day or two before the backup drive I had ordered showed up - ouch!). Incidentally, a few other tracks were nailed by that crash; the Sugarloaf Parkway material, for instance. It took awhile to re-create these tracks, but I think it helped to progress them further than they might have otherwise.
So, the latin themes in J D remain pretty much intact to the original, except for the piano solo which was done a few weeks ago. The swing sections are similar to the original, but were realized in the last few months, and the marimba solo, like the piano, just happened very recently.
"Liner Notes" - Nothing But the Blood
Nothing But the Blood started out around 2001 as a trumpet quartet, believe it or not. I am very heavily into recycling, so it's not unusual for my "projects" to manifest themselves in a variety of instrumentations, depending on any number of factors. We were living in metro Atlanta (Lawrenceville) at the time, and I was playing regularly with the Gwinnett Community Band. An offshoot, or sub-ensemble, of that group was a trumpet ensemble, which not only played at concerts but also at church services and other occasions. Nothing But the Blood was one of several pieces that I wrote for that group.
Overall, the arrangement is kind of in three sections, and while the trumpet ensemble was able to pull it off at one level, the contrast of the sections really begged for fuller and more varied instrumentation. The energy of the middle section called out for the addition of a rhythm section, which of course expanded to service the whole piece. The outer sections, being more "traditional", lyrical and legato, morphed into a woodwind ensemble, and the "poor" trumpets that reigned over the initial version were reduced to punctuation fills.
"Liner Notes" - Seventeen for Jean
This song, more than anything else I've written, is based on a single artist, actually on a single tune. Don Ellis did a tune called Bulgarian Bulge, an eastern-European sounding thing in a meter of 33/16 (yes, 33/16, that's not a typo). Being a huge fan of odd/complex meters, I wanted to write something similar, but not wanting to be a copy cat, mine is only in 17/8. I suppose I could have written it in 34/16, but then it might look like I was trying to one-up Mr. Ellis by a sixteenth note, and that was not my intention. The resultant meter is also the influence for the name of the piece.
I did keep the eastern-European influences by using prominent clarinet and violin, although the beds for the solos are decidedly more western-jazzy, in a Hank Levy sort of way. This is yet another one of my projects that started more than a few years ago, but got finished a few days ago.
"Liner Notes" - Sugarloaf Parkway
Sugarloaf Parkway is another one of those projects that began it's life a long time ago and has been simmering at various temperatures ever since. The primary organ theme was "born" around 1980 and is actually based in part on an idea from a friend in college, so if this song ever becomes popular I will need to track him down and strike a deal. :)
The second theme is also from around the same time, but was part of a different track for a long time before it found a home here. The bridge material with the synth feature actually came along only a few years ago, and had also started out in something else until the "aha" came along to put it here. Finally, sensing that the track needed a little something else (like finding that one extra seasoning that makes the soup special), the organ solo was realized just a few weeks ago.
The name "Sugarloaf Parkway" comes from a road by that name in metro NE Atlanta Ga. It's a newer road that sort of "cuts across the grain" of the existing roads to provide a quick and easy way to get from here to there in that part of town. The drive and energy of this track seems to reflect that same "cut across the grain" feel; thus the name.
Being one of the (cough, cough) "older" people around here, I actually remember when the primary form of recorded music was the 12" vinyl LP. In fact in the early 80's I was a store manager for Camelot Music and was very much involved with selling vinyl records. One of the great features of LPs are the liner notes that were often included that provided information on the music, lyrics, performers, etc. I know, CDs have liner notes in their inserts/booklets, but I'm remembering liner notes that were in a type size readable by humans. :)
From time to time, I intend to provide "liner notes" for my songs/projects and give some background information and insight as to where/how/why these came about.
"Liner Notes" – Reflections
“Reflections" is the granddaddy of all of the Hackdaddy projects. The first version of this track was written nearly 30 years ago for trumpet and piano, and was performed for a student recital at Wittenberg University. This was somewhat progressive at the time as the vast majority of student recital pieces were from “standard” repertoire that typically was not jazzy and did not contain improvisation. I certainly admit to some inspiration from Chuck Mangione (among others) on this track, with his “Bellavia” probably being the biggest influence.
Reflections resurfaced in the 90’s as a brass quintet piece for Champaign Brass, taking on the form of a trumpet feature with brass quartet accompaniment. It began morphing into the present version a few years ago, and for awhile was a (synthed) trumpet and clarinet duet with piano and string features. The current published version is an acoustic trumpet duet, and also has an expanded strings presence throughout the track.
"Liner Notes" - J D
J D is - you guessed it! - something that got started a long time ago and just got finished recently. This one started out in the practice rooms at Wittenberg, and a very good friend of mine, J. D. liked it alot from the start, hence the name of the song. It was always a juxtaposition of latin and swing, but originally the swing part was a different theme.
The first version of J D actually was finished in the early 90's, but fell victim to a hard drive crash (literally a day or two before the backup drive I had ordered showed up - ouch!). Incidentally, a few other tracks were nailed by that crash; the Sugarloaf Parkway material, for instance. It took awhile to re-create these tracks, but I think it helped to progress them further than they might have otherwise.
So, the latin themes in J D remain pretty much intact to the original, except for the piano solo which was done a few weeks ago. The swing sections are similar to the original, but were realized in the last few months, and the marimba solo, like the piano, just happened very recently.
"Liner Notes" - Nothing But the Blood
Nothing But the Blood started out around 2001 as a trumpet quartet, believe it or not. I am very heavily into recycling, so it's not unusual for my "projects" to manifest themselves in a variety of instrumentations, depending on any number of factors. We were living in metro Atlanta (Lawrenceville) at the time, and I was playing regularly with the Gwinnett Community Band. An offshoot, or sub-ensemble, of that group was a trumpet ensemble, which not only played at concerts but also at church services and other occasions. Nothing But the Blood was one of several pieces that I wrote for that group.
Overall, the arrangement is kind of in three sections, and while the trumpet ensemble was able to pull it off at one level, the contrast of the sections really begged for fuller and more varied instrumentation. The energy of the middle section called out for the addition of a rhythm section, which of course expanded to service the whole piece. The outer sections, being more "traditional", lyrical and legato, morphed into a woodwind ensemble, and the "poor" trumpets that reigned over the initial version were reduced to punctuation fills.
"Liner Notes" - Seventeen for Jean
This song, more than anything else I've written, is based on a single artist, actually on a single tune. Don Ellis did a tune called Bulgarian Bulge, an eastern-European sounding thing in a meter of 33/16 (yes, 33/16, that's not a typo). Being a huge fan of odd/complex meters, I wanted to write something similar, but not wanting to be a copy cat, mine is only in 17/8. I suppose I could have written it in 34/16, but then it might look like I was trying to one-up Mr. Ellis by a sixteenth note, and that was not my intention. The resultant meter is also the influence for the name of the piece.
I did keep the eastern-European influences by using prominent clarinet and violin, although the beds for the solos are decidedly more western-jazzy, in a Hank Levy sort of way. This is yet another one of my projects that started more than a few years ago, but got finished a few days ago.
"Liner Notes" - Sugarloaf Parkway
Sugarloaf Parkway is another one of those projects that began it's life a long time ago and has been simmering at various temperatures ever since. The primary organ theme was "born" around 1980 and is actually based in part on an idea from a friend in college, so if this song ever becomes popular I will need to track him down and strike a deal. :)
The second theme is also from around the same time, but was part of a different track for a long time before it found a home here. The bridge material with the synth feature actually came along only a few years ago, and had also started out in something else until the "aha" came along to put it here. Finally, sensing that the track needed a little something else (like finding that one extra seasoning that makes the soup special), the organ solo was realized just a few weeks ago.
The name "Sugarloaf Parkway" comes from a road by that name in metro NE Atlanta Ga. It's a newer road that sort of "cuts across the grain" of the existing roads to provide a quick and easy way to get from here to there in that part of town. The drive and energy of this track seems to reflect that same "cut across the grain" feel; thus the name.