Paul Hannah: Knocks Me Off My Feet (A Jazz Tribute to the Music of Stevie Wonder)

Saturday, July 11th, 2026, 7:30 PM

Nashville Jazz Workshop

Drummer and percussionist Paul Hannah has been playing professionally since he was sixteen. Born into a musical family in Las Vegas, he learned his craft the old way, on the city’s bandstands, watching and questioning the legendary drummers of the Strip while his father, arranger Don Hannah, worked with the biggest names in town. He went on to study with Vic Firth at the New England Conservatory and earned the prestigious Artist’s Diploma from the Hartt School of Music.

That training launched a touring life that has carried him through 25 Broadway productions across the U.S., Canada, Japan, and China, including “West Side Story” in Tokyo, “Wicked,” and “An American in Paris.” That adds up to more than 5,000 shows for 7.5 million people, alongside a freelance career that has placed him next to Christian McBride, John Medeski, Dave Brubeck, Byron Stripling, and Wolfgang Muthspiel.

On July 11, Hannah brings his first love to the Jazz Cave: the music of Stevie Wonder. His new Green Hill Music album, Knocks Me Off My Feet: A Jazz Tribute to the Music of Stevie Wonder (out August 21), recasts Wonder’s songs with lean horn arrangements and rhythms pulled from Brazil, Peru, and the Caribbean. Critics have taken notice. Lead single “Do I Do” has been called “a sound that welcomes the listener,” its Songo groove praised for sitting right “in the pocket” while three horns add color without ever crowding. As Green Hill’s Blake Davis puts it, this is “a world-class drummer with deep jazz roots.”

A Zildjian and Vic Firth artist, published author, and lifelong sideman, Hannah plays with a fierce honesty and a deep commitment to the craft.