Ray Hackett

Ray Hackett '' was an American radio broadcast and dance orchestra leader who flourished from 1928, while attending the University of Nevada, Reno, to the mid-1970s in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he spent most of his professional career.

Career

By the age of 15, Hackett – billed as "The Boy Wonder" – was playing popular piano music in Reno theaters. Hackett was a 1932 graduate of the University of Nevada, Reno. He studied philosophy with plans to become a lawyer. In 1928, while in college, he was leading his own dance orchestra. Following the crash of 1929, Hackett lost his scholarship and began relying mostly on gigs from his dance band to pay tuition. He graduated and pursued music. His primary instrument was piano.
In 1937, Hackett became music director at CBS in San Francisco. In 1939, he was appointed music director of the Golden Gate Exposition at Treasure Island. By 1949, Hackett's band was booked by Music Corporation of America.
Hackett's tenure as music director for CBS in San Francisco endured through the mid-1960s. Hackett was music director of The Bill Weaver Show with Ray Hackett and His Orchestra, which began in the mid-1950s and continued through the mid-1960s.

Education

Pre-college music
Primary and secondary schools
'''College'''

Notable orchestra members

Eddie Duran, jazz guitarist with the CBS Orchestra, late 1950s

Selected compositions

Songs

"Yearning", song with men's quartet
"From Time To Time"
"Where in the World"

Grove playsThe Green Mountain Boys The Valley of The Moon ; Taj Mahal ;

Selected discography

The Forward Look ;

"Come Join The Band", Raycord ;
"The Indian Jumps", Raycord ;
"Our Sturdy Golden Bear", Raycord ;
"Oski Jumps", Raycord ;