Buck Hammer

Buck Hammer was a fictitious black blues pianist who (according to the liner notes) died within days of completing his only recordings, released on a 1959 LP titled The Discovery of Buck Hammer (Hanover Records, HM 8001/HS 8001) with a cover drawing supposedly depicting the late musician.

Within a short time after its release, the album was revealed as a hoax; the music actually performed by TV host and sometimes songwriter Steve Allen.

One of the gags was that the supposed live music was actually overdubbed, making the technical virtuosity an actual impossibility, unless Buck had four hands.

External Links

• Steve Allen discusses Buck Hammer in Living the Jazz Life
• Newspaper article

See also: Mary Ann Jackson, Marcel Valentino