Jake Hanna - The Timeliest, Swinging Drummer

© -Steven Cerra. Copyright protected; all rights reserved.

“Perhaps ‘comfortable’ is the key word to Jake Hanna’s playing. It reflects his personality and his approach to music, for he is an easygoing bachelor of thirty-two, a convivial soul who enjoys the hurly-burly of musicians' hangouts in his free time. He makes the rounds of clubs where his friends are working and, whenever the opportunity presents itself, likes to sit in. He is a musician in the true sense, totally involved with playing, discussing music and listening to it, and he is one of the most completely cheerful people one could meet. Though he affects a bluff air and a joking, irreverent attitude toward most things, he is still sincere, dedicated, and honest.” 

- Marian McPartland, Jazz pianist

“Drummers are like the offensive line on a football team—they're there at all times . . . dependable . . . but they are not supposed to be heroes.” 

- Jake Hanna, Jazz drummer

For drummer Jake Hanna, who began his career as the house drummer at Storyville, George Wein’s fabled Boston Jazz club, and went on to work with legendary Jazz greats Toshiko Akiyoshi, Marian McPartland, Maynard Ferguson, Woody Herman and Carl Fontana, the fundamental proposition behind all Jazz drumming was simple - keep time and swing.

Whatever the setting, trio, combo or big band, the drummer’s job was to become an engine room that regulated the pace and powered the pulse of the music.

Jake was very insistent on this overriding principle of all Jazz drumming and I never heard him veer from it throughout his distinguished career [Jake died in 2010 at the age of 78].

It’s not unusual for drummers with limited technique to become advocates of “the keep-time-and-swing school of drumming;" I mean, after all, what else are they gonna say?

But Jake could really get around the instrument; he had chops [technique] to spare, which made his insistence on “the basics,” as he called them, even more impressive.

Until his death, Jake was a frequent participant at a number of Jazz parties and festivals held at hotels near my home and over the years I got to know him quite well. His good spirits and good humor made him a fun guy to hang out with and his knowledge of Jazz drumming styles was unsurpassed. Mention the name of any drummer and Jake had the uncanny ability to mimic his style.

The following chapter is in Marian McPartland’s All in Good Time. Although they were written during the early years of Jake’s career [1963], Marian’s observations about Jake’s approach to drumming would remain a constant throughout his time in Jazz.

Just Swinging: Jake Hanna