Career
Hanna first performed in his home town of Boston, and was the house drummer at Storyville for a number of years in the 1950s and 1960s. He played with Toshiko Akiyoshi (1957), Maynard Ferguson (1958), Marian McPartland (1959-1961), and Woody Herman"s Orchestra (1962-1964). He did extensive work as a studio musician both in and out of jazz, including a period as the drummer for the big band of the Merv Griffin Show (1964-1975).
He recorded several albums with Carl Fontana for Concord Jazz in the mid-1970s, and also played in Supersax.
Later in his career he did much work as a sideman for Concord. Hanna died on February 12, 2010 in Los Angeles, California of complications from blood disease.
