Jake Hanna was born and raised in Dorchester, Massachusetts. At the Berklee School of Music, he met fellow student Toshiko Akyoshi and later worked in New York at the Hickory House as a member of her trio. As a result of the trio’s success, he was asked to join the Woody Herman and Maynard Ferguson orchestras.

In 1959, Jake returned to Boston where he became the house drummer for George Wein’s jazz club, Storyville. After leaving Boston, he worked the Hickory House again, this time with Marian McPartland. Then he met Bobby Hackett and worked with him at the famous Eddie Condon’s jazz club until Harry James asked him to tour with his band. While working with the James band, Jake got a call from Woody Herman, who wanted him in his Swinging Herd band.

For the next 10 years, Jake was the drummer with the in-studio band of the Merv Griffin Show, both in New York and Los Angeles. During and after the Griffin show, Jake toured the former Soviet Union twice, first with Oscar Peterson and then with Fraser McFerson, a great Canadian tenor sax player.

Jake’s personal highlight was as a member of the Bing Crosby personal quartet, along with Joe Bushkin, Milt Hinton and Johnny Smith. The band went everywhere with Bing until his death.

Jake continues to tour and record, his most recent work being on recordings with Harry Allen. He also tours throughout the world with Howard Alden, Warren Vaché and Scott Hamilton, as well as many European tours with the late Ralph Sutton.