Given Hannah Harder‘s history of posting remarkable play along videos on her instagram feed, I had relatively high expectations for her album. Even with my high expectations, I was absolutely blown away by the quality of the music on Harder’s disc, “The Greatest of These is Love.” Although she is only one year out of college, Hannah Harder writes and plays with the maturity, enthusiasm and inspiration of a seasoned musician. Her melodies have direction, her solos have a point and she clearly respects her fellow players and give them ample time to shine and contribute to her vision. The first song that captured my attention is the title track, “The Greatest of These is Love.” The song bounces along with bassist Graydon Peterson and Ben Ehrlich coaxing a soothing but energetic groove out of the piece. Thanks to Harder’s writing there is a depth of emotion beneath the bounce that makes the piece stand out.
The soul of the song belongs squarely to Hannah Harder’s melody and solo. Throughout her performance Harder sounds soulful while peppering in melancholy phrases that give the song a thickness that set it apart from the majority of writing in modern jazz. Patrick Adkins, the pianist on the session, is a tremendous foil for Hannah Harder, always telling the other side of her story whether in his comping or his own solos.
Hannah Harder and her quartet will celebrate the release of their new album tonight (Wednesday, February 26) at MetroNOME Brewery in Saint Paul. I sincerely hope that Hannah Harder will fill her calendar up with performances for her quartet because she and the rest of her group are onto something very special. –Sean McPherson
Hot New Local Singles highlights new, local songs. Minnesota has a lot of great jazz, funk, soul, and jazz- adjacent music, and Jazz88 is highlighting what is fresh.
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