American musician

Ken Hanna

Intro
American musician
Genres
Music
Ken Hanna was the first guy I ever met, even before Rugolo, who had the same feeling as me. Ken came to a rehearsal and we hadn’t played more than 16 bars when I realized he wrote exactly as I did, and I couldn’t believe it.

Stan Kenton, Steven D. Harris "The Kenton Chronicles" p. 233.

Kenneth Lucien Hanna (July 8, 1921 - December 10, 1982) was an American jazz trumpeter, arranger, composer, and bandleader, best known for his work with Stan Kenton. Hired in 1942 by Kenton to add commercial arrangements to the library, he also played trumpet in the band before taking a break for military service. He returned to the trumpet section after the war and continued to contribute compositions and arrangements until 1951. He wrote almost 40 forward thinking compositions and arrangements between 1942 and 1951. He returned to the Kenton writing staff in the late 1960s, contributing over 70 more titles between 1968 and 1977.

Hanna was born in Baltimore. He married Margaret Lee Voorhess (1919–1968), with whom he had a son, Donald Voorhess Hanna (1942–2019),and Stephen Charles Hanna (1947-2020),in 1942.