Hannah Gill | "Everybody Loves A Lover"

No one really knows for sure where the expression “everything old is new again” originated, but a younger generation certainly embodies that aphorism with their embrace of a musical style that went out of vogue more than 50 years before most of them were born. In the 1990s, groups like Squirrel Nut Zippers and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy spearheaded a musical movement that came to be known as the Swing-Era Revival, a movement that is still inspiring young musicians today.

Hannah Gill is a vocalist whose debut album, Everybody Loves A Lover, comprises eleven swing-era tunes that were composed from the 1920s through the 1950s. She is joined on the album by a band of top-notch East Coast musicians who share Gill’s passion for the danceable rhythms and melodic riffs that characterize this music. Joining Gill are trumpeter Danny Jonokuchi (who leads his own 17-piece big band and co-wrote the arrangements for this album), saxophonist and clarinetist Ryan Wesiheit, trombonist Sam Chess, guitarist Greg Ruggiero, pianist Gordon Webster (a fixture in the global Lindy Hop scene), bassist Tal Ronen, and drummer Ben Zweig.

Still a young woman, Gill’s voice is warm and mature with a deep-rooted feeling for jazz. Although she cites Blossom Dearie, Anita O’Day, and especially Ella Fitzgerald (she has a tattoo of Ella on her ankle) as her main inspirations, her vocals are also inflected with blues and soul. She stays true to the original music but brings it into the 21st century.

Gill spent countless hours listening to music on YouTube and sharing ideas with friends to choose the songs for this project. She says, “I divided the album into two types of songs. For anyone listening to the album on vinyl, Side A (or the first 6 tunes on CD) is about love makers, while Side B (the remaining 5 songs) is about heart breakers.”

Gill’s natural vocal talents were apparent at an early age. She grew up on the eastern shore of Maryland but has been honing her chops on the New York City jazz and Lindy Hop scene for the last eight years. Her penchant for the stage was seen all through middle school as she participated in numerous theatrical productions and talent shows. Her initial foray to NYC came about on her 16th birthday, when her father brought her to the city to watch a show at Summerstage. It was there that they met guitarist Brad Hammonds, whose father was Hannah’s co-worker. Hammonds, who had been performing for over 20 years, invited Hannah to record vocals on his next album, and thereafter they decided to work together.

At the age of 18, having decided to defer a college degree and pursue her passion for music instead, she moved to New York by herself and partnered with Hammonds to form “Hannah Gill & The Hours.” Forming a band that ranged from a duo to an eight-piece, they released two EP’s, The Water, and Lost In Words, whilst touring nationally in support of the projects. In 2020, during the pandemic, Hannah decided to pursue her own solo career, and self-released another EP of her original music, called Songs From Quarantine.

All the while, as Hannah played with The Hours, she was featured at local gigs in NYC, where she met Glen Crytzer and Gordon Webster, both of whom are established band leaders in the Lindy Hop scene. She also became a permanent member of Scott Bradlee’s Post Modern Jukebox, a band that re-arranges pop hits as jazz tunes. With PMJ, Hannah toured the world twice over, playing sold out shows from the Sydney Opera House to L’Olympia in Paris.

Her love for and knowledge of jazz led her to record her Spooky Jazz EP, a collection of classic swing-era standards that showcase the spookier size of jazz, which was released on Halloween in 2020.

Everybody Loves A Lover is being released on Turtle Bay Records, spearheaded by Scott Asen, a devotee of swing-era music. Asen, a career businessman and a true jazz lover, began Turtle Bay Records to showcase the best contemporary jazz artists playing the best tunes of yesteryear. Asen first heard Gill sing at one of his house parties for jazz aficionados, where he invites local musicians to perform. He then went on to see her at a host of other venues in the city and decided to offer her a record deal for an album on his newly formed label.

Some of the songs are a nod to Hannah’s favorite singers. The 1931 song “Moonlight Saving Time” was sung by Blossom Dearie, while “I Fell in Love with a Dream” was written by Ella Fitzgerald for her 1939 album Betcha Nickel. Gill also culled songs from the oeuvres of Nat King Cole and Doris Day. “What Can I Say After I Say I’m Sorry” was written by Walter Donaldson and Abe Lyman in 1926 and rejuvenated by The Nat Cole Trio in 1946, while “This Will Make You Laugh” was written by Irene Higginbotham and first released by the Trio in 1941. Doris Day sang ”Put ‘Em in a Box” by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn in the 1948 movie Romance on the High Seas, and “Everybody Loves a Lover,” the title track, was a hit single for her in 1958.

Other classic songs include “You Were Only Fooling,” “You’re Getting to Be a Habit with Me,” “Lullaby of the Leaves,” and “Autumn Leaves.” Gill closes the album with a rollicking version of “It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie.”

With Gill’s weekly gigs and her performances with the XIV Burlesque Theater Company in Brooklyn several nights a week, you might say her career is in full swing these days. The refreshing arrangements, the outstanding musicianship, and, of course, Gill’s alluring vocals make Everybody Loves A Lover a compelling debut album and a refreshing addition to the movement.