"From an early age," the late pianist Roland Hanna once said, "my interest lay in how music made me feel, not whether it was jazz or classical or whatever." Hanna exemplified that sentiment on 40-plus solo, duo and trio recordings for various small labels between 1973 and 2002, never more vividly than these [recordings], made during the final year of his life.

Sir Roland Hanna in Japan October 2002

| Apres Un Rev | Dream | Everything I Love | I've Got a Right to Sing The Blues |
| Last Concert | Milano, Paris, New York: Finding John Lewis |
| Tributaries: Reflections on Tommy Flanagan |

Over a crisp calypso beat from collaborators Ron Carter and Grady Tate, Hanna opens Apres Un Reve (Venus 53-45, ), with a composition by pianist Arthur Rubinstein. With a minimum of fuss and affect, he proceeds to ruminate upon the beautiful melodies of Mahler, Dvorak, Borodin, Mozart, Faure, Schubert and Chopin with enviable lucidity and control of touch at tempos swinging and rubato, propelled by Carter's perfect note choices. The touch is light, the content isn't. It's Hanna's final work, capping a career devoted to the rejection of cant and to the principle of deploying all 88 notes on the piano in the process of self expression.

Dream (Venus Records TKCV-35094). Roland Hanna, Piano; Eddie Locke, drums; Paul West, bass. Venus Records, Inc. Tokyo, Japan. Recorded at “The Studio,” New York, February 1, 2001. Produced by Tetsuo Hara and Todd Barkan

Track Listings
1. When I Grow Too Old to Dream    
2. Street of Dreams    
3. You Stepped Out of a Dream    
4. Day Dream    
5. This Time the Dream's on Me    
6. Skylark    
7. I Hear a Rhapsody    
8. Dream    
9. So in Love    
10. Dream Dancing    
11. Sleepin' Bee    
12. You Do Something to Me

Few improvising pianists could match the vast stylistic range, overwhelming technique and capacious imagination that Hanna displays on Everything I Love (IPO 1002, 72.29, ) documenting 13 performances from a marathon solo session of almost 40 tunes, most executed in one take. Avoiding cliche, Hanna imprints his personality on 10 American Songbook chestnuts, a neoclassical original, a reconfigured "All Blues," and an elegant blues built on motifs associated with Milt Jackson. Navigating the repertoire with a free attitude, the pianist crafts a series of spontaneous arrangements, creating resonant textures in the service of constant melodic development, shifting between the blues, stride, bebop, the classics and French impressionism to fashion a holistic narrative.

Accompanying Carrie Smith through the 12 choice selections on I've Got a Right to Sing The Blues: The Songs of Harold Arlen (IPO 1003 60.09, ) Hanna is similarly open and free of inhibition, listening deeply, anticipating the diva's every note and placing a complimentary sound to it. Smith's husky, lived-in voice, impeccable timing and soulful delivery, impassioned and reflective, impart weight and authority to her readings of the lyrics of Yip Harberg ("Happiness is A Thing Called Joe"), Ted Koehler (the title track and "Let's Fall in Love") and Johnny Mercer ("Accentuate the Positive," "That Old Black Magic"); Hanna's signifying solos in response to the songbird's call are pithy, idiomatic and masterful.