2004 SAMMY winners for Best Jazz Recording (“Something to Remember You By”)
2005 SAMMY winners for Best Jazz Recording (“Things Are Looking Up”)
2008 SAMMY winners for Best Jazz Recording (“Live at the Fleece”)
“One of the best chamber-jazz groups you’ll ever hear.” –Michael Steinman, Jazz Lives
“Hanna Richardson summons up her instigator, Rosemary Clooney, and also Maxine Sullivan. She has their easy swing and their reverence for diction. And she has a voice–no reediness, no whispering, no dullness. And Flanigan has some of the ‘listen’ quality of Jimmy Blanton.”–Whitney Balliett
“If you are a fan of swinging, straight ahead blowing from a songbook laying heavily on tunes from the past you will want to catch Tenor Madness whenever possible.” — Pat Carroll, Jazzfax
“I was immediately taken by her easy, graceful way with a lyric…Hanna Richardson is a considerable songstress in her own right, with an engagingly sunny style and assured phrasing…” — John Herr, Cadence Magazine
“Flanigan plays acoustic bass the way other guys wish they could play guitar. I can’t remember the last time I heard more applause for a bass solo.” Miami Herald
“Given all the bad acting that now infects jazz and popular singing, a singer without affectations, someone with innate swing and melodic sense, is a pleasure. Meet Hanna Richardson!”– Michael Steinman, Mississippi Rag
“Richardson’s warm/cool dichotomy simultaneously suggests the frosted richness of Chris Connor and tousled sexiness of Julie London…”–Christopher Loudon, Jazz Times
“…bassist Flanigan isn’t in the business of ruffling feathers. What he does provide is silky swing and no-nonsense, old-school improvising.” –New Yorker Magazine
“Now playing tenor guitar, Phil created chorus after chorus of subtle, complex and often humorous ideas that any six string player would have been proud of.” –Pat Carroll, Jazzfax
“What beautiful relaxed, witty, trenchant, swinging, smart, irresistible singing! And what a band!” –Fred Allen, American Heritage Magazine
“This great combination of fine jazz singing and playing is not to be missed…if your taste is for straight ahead real jazz. Hanna has total command of her lyrics and the music and an obvious respect for melody…best of all, she swings!” –Martin Richards, Jazz Journal International
“Hanna has just completed a British tour, and to my great regret I was unable to get to see her. However, I have the consolation of this superb CD (Things Are Looking Up), which is a delight from start to finish. Hanna displays innate good taste in her serene yet heartfelt approach to these songs, and is well supported by bass-playing husband Phil Flanigan and a tasty guitar-based quartet, who are featured on three instrumental tracks. Fine jazz-tinged singing with respect for the melody, mature interpretation of the lyrics without any histrionics and mannerisms. Highly recommended.” –Jerry Stonestreet, The UK’s In Tune Magazine
“The seamless, straight ahead vocalising of Richardson is a rare delight. The perfect tone blending between voice, double bass and guitar is achieved, I suspect, by Phil Flanigan using a microphone as opposed to an amplifier, considered almost compulsory today. Chris Flory’s guitar is amplified but the sound they produce is as one and they swing like crazy in all tempos. Closing with Sammy Fain’s “Are You Having Fun?”, the answer is very definitely ‘yes’.”–Sheila Tracy (BBC Presenter), “The Stage” (UK)
“Hanna Richardson is a delightfully unfussy singer with a warm voice and a taste for classic swing numbers. On this album [Simply...With Spirit!] she and her husband, bassist Phil Flanigan, perform several of these songs by themselves and others with the help of violinist Johnny Frigo, drummer Mike Melito and guitarists Chris Flory and Bob Sneider. But it’s Richardson’s rich voice and her clear, direct singing style that will make you keep hitting the “repeat” button.” –The Library Association
“Hanna Richardson’s relaxed phrasing and pinpoint diction make this a recital which is both charming and life affirming. … somebody finally had to do something definitive with Irving Berlin’s “He Ain’t Got Rhythm,” as well as with “Too Many Tears” (by Harrey Warren and Al Dubin), and here they both are—and both dressed in their verses. Hanna’s vocal is so full of burgeoning optimism that I’ve decided to go easy on sugar and red meat, start exercising semi-regularly, and live a while longer. Husband Phil Flanigan supplies perfect accompaniment, marshaling his troops to provide logistical help and morale enhancement in the battle for good wholesome jazz music. This lady is the sort of vocalist who could’ve, should’ve, would’ve sung with Eddie Condon and the boys, or with Dave Barbour, if Peggy Lee wanted the night off. She sings regularly at my house, as long as the electricity stays on.”–Alan Barbebuhr, Cadence Magazine (January 2005)
“Richardson is a singer of great intelligence, projecting warmth and sincerity. With her lovely alto she utilizes the grammar of jazz with a sense of personal involvement. She sings so easily, with unobtrusive technique and a preference for direct melodicism and harmonic sophistication. Richardson is the perfect antidote to all the current scat-happy singers high on pyrotechnics and short on poetry. She focuses on the song and the music, which is where the focus should be. This CD ["Things Are Looking Up"] is state of the art in what is now known as GAS, the Great American Songbook. It should be distributed as a textbook in how to sing, what to sing and meaning what you sing. Highly recommended.” —Roger Crane, Planet Jazz Magazine (Canada)
