Hackett had both classical and rock music backgrounds. His early career was mostly as part of his brother's band, appearing on many early albums and touring until 1983. By then, he had already made guest contributions to other albums, such as Anthony Phillips's debut solo album The Geese and the Ghost. He has as played with ensembles such as The English Flute Quartet and the Westminster Camerata, and as a founder-member of the relaxation and ambient music group, Symbiosis. He has also maintained a strong output from session work with a variety of artists and projects.
Solo work
From 2004, John has been regularly releasing solo albums, taking in classical, folk, and rock stylings. In 2005, Checking Out of London was released, a rock album produced with Nick Magnus, and with the majority of the lyrics by Nick Clabburn. This was followed up in 2015 with a second rock album, Another Life, also with the involvement of Magnus and Clabburn.
With Nick Magnus
Since being in Steve Hackett's band together, John and Nick Magnus have often collaborated, recording and performing together many times.
John has worked alongside Italian organist Marco Lo Muscio throughout the 2000s, often performing organ/piano/flute duets in live performances across Europe. There are few recordings of them together, though Hackett played on Lo Muscio's The Book of Bilbo and Gandalf album, and they collaborated on the Playing The History project with Steve Hackett. In 2019 they published the first official album in DUO, On the Wings of the Wind, with Stradivarius.
Since 2012, John has collaborated with Classical guitarist Nick Fletcher. They have performed as a flute/guitar duo across England and recorded two albums of instrumental music, the first of which also featured Steve Hackett.
John Hackett Band
In 2005, a short lived band existed to promote Checking Out of London, featuring Nick Magnus on keyboards and Tony Patterson on vocals, along with various members of the Genesis tribute band, ReGenesis. To support the release of Another Life, a trio was formed with John, Nick Fletcher and Duncan Parsons, which was soon expanded to a full band with the addition of Jeremy Richardson and Duncan moving to full drum kit. The band started public performances as the John Hackett Band in 2016, their debut album We Are Not Alone was released in 2017 through Esoteric Antenna Records as a double CD set of a studio album and a live album recorded in 2016.
2012 – "The Rome Project feat. Steve Hackett and John Hackett" cd single –
2012 – "The Rome Project –
2012 – Abandoned Buildings
2013 – Playing the History – for Flute, Organ, Piano, Bass, Guitar & Saxophone, with Marco Lo Muscio, Steve Hackett, Carlo Matteucci, David Jackson, & Giorgio Gabriel
