Warren Harris, aka Hanna, claims jazz greats
Carmen McRae,
Bill Evans, and
Thelonious Monk as influences. Well, OK. But if so, they're buried pretty deep in the mix -- what Hanna creates on his first Shadow release will sound to most like nothing more than good old American drum'n'bass. It's drum'n'bass of particularly high quality, of course, but if jazz influences are what give Hanna's breakbeats and basslines a little extra depth, then they're doing so at a mostly subliminal level. That said, there is indeed a hint of
Bill Evans in the chord voicings on "Bewitched" (a sly reference to the jazz standard "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered"?). And Hanna's harmonic vocabulary goes beyond what you normally hear in this genre; combined with the genuine intricacy of his rhythmic conception (check out those almost contrapuntal breaks on "Peacemaker"), the result is a style of drum'n'bass that, while it might not win new fans for the music, will certainly keep aficionados' heads nodding in time. ~ Rick Anderson