Bob Hammer

{{Infobox musical artist | name = Bob Hammer | image = Bob Hammer Piano 2018.jpg | caption = Bob Hammer performing at The Royal Room on May 9, 2018 | birth_name = Howard Robert Hammer | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|03|03}} | birth_place = Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2021|12|26|1930|03|03}} | death_place = Chehalis, Washington, U.S. | genre = Jazz | occupation = Musician, composer, arranger | instrument = Piano | years_active = 1940s–2021 | past_member_of = Charles Mingus, Woody Herman }}

'''Howard Robert Hammer''' (March 3, 1930 – December 26, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer and arranger.

== Biography == Howard Robert Hammer was born in Indianapolis, Indiana on March 3, 1930.<ref name="feather" /><ref name="cadence" /> He began performing in Michigan at age 15 before studying at Michigan State University and the Manhattan School of Music.<ref name="feather" /> Hammer had familiarized himself with early jazz styles (his father had performed with territory bands during the 1930s), and while living in New York, he performed with musicians such as Red Allen and Bud Freeman.<ref name="cadence" /> During the early 1960s, he studied with composer Henry Brant (alongside Tom McIntosh and Julian Priester).<ref name="cadence" />

Hammer led a band with Bob Wilber (1955). He worked in the Sauter/Finnegan Orchestra,<ref name="feather" /> the Roy Eldridge Quartet (1956) and with Gene Krupa<ref name="feather" /> (1956/57). He was a member of Red Allen's<ref name="feather" /> band (1958–1962) and Eddie Condon's (1959/60) band. At that time, he recorded with Charles Mingus<ref name="feather" /> (who called him his "Beethoven"{{Quote without source|date=June 2021}}) and began to work as arranger for the bassist on ''Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus'', ''Town Hall Concert'' and the celebrated ''The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady''.  In 1963, Hammer played with Pee Wee Russell, Krupa, and Eldridge. In 1964, he was on tour with Bobby Hackett. From 1965 to 1967, he worked as arranger for ''The Merv Griffin Show''. He recorded with Jimmy Knepper,<ref name="feather" /> Johnny Hartman,<ref name="feather" /> Woody Herman,<ref name="feather" /> Clark Terry,<ref name="feather" /> and Elvin Jones. Between 1967 and 1982, he worked as a member of show bands in Las Vegas.

After moving to Los Angeles in 1983, Hammer had an engagement with Slide Hampton, worked as instructor for jazz improvisation at El Camino Community College, and played in the Jimmy Cleveland Octet. He also worked with Barbara McNair, the Tommy Newsom Quartet, and the MDA Labor Day Telethon. In 2004, he recorded with Floyd Standifer's quintet. He also arranged dance charts for the Nicholas Brothers, Skip Cunningham, Chester Whitmore, Jacqueline Douget, Deborah Lysholm, and Tim J Hickey.

Hammer died on December 26, 2021, at the age of 91.<ref>{{cite news |title=Obituary: Bob Hammer |url=https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2022/02/15/obituary-bob-hammer/ |access-date=20 November 2023 |publisher=Jazz Journal |date=15 February 2022}}</ref>

==Discography== ===As leader=== * ''Beatlejazz'' (ABC-Paramount, 1964)<ref name="cadence" />

===As sideman=== * Cozy Cole, ''A Cozy Conception of Carmen'' (Charlie Parker, 1962) * Johnny Hartman, ''The Voice That Is!'' (Impulse!, 1964) * Jimmy Knepper, ''A Swinging Introduction to Jimmy Knepper'' (Bethlehem, 1957) * Charles Mingus, ''A Modern Jazz Symposium of Music and Poetry'' (Bethlehem, 1957)

==References== {{Reflist|refs= * <ref name="feather">{{cite book |last1=Feather |first1=Leonard |author-link1=Leonard Feather |last2=Gitler |first2=Ira |author-link2=Ira Gitler |title=The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz |type=Google eBook |access-date=2012-06-25 |series=The Encyclopedia of Jazz |year=2007 |orig-year=1990 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=9780195320008 |page=(unpaginated) | no-pp=yes |chapter=HAMMER, BOB (HOWARD ROBERT) |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CibYUWF-ZXkC&pg=PT935 }}</ref> * <ref name="cadence">{{cite journal | last =Smith | first =Randy L. |date=Oct–Dec 2011 | title =Bob Hammer interview, September 15, 2009, Monroe, WA | journal = Cadence Magazine | volume =37 | issue =10-11-12 (398) | pages =7–17; 94 | publisher = Cadnor Ltd. | location = Redwood, NY | issn = 0162-6973 }}</ref> }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammer, Bob}} Category:1930 births Category:2021 deaths Category:Musicians from Indianapolis Category:Michigan State University alumni Category:American jazz pianists Category:American male jazz pianists Category:American music arrangers Category:20th-century American pianists Category:21st-century American pianists Category:20th-century American male pianists Category:21st-century American male pianists