Paul Hanson

Who is Paul Hanson?

Paul Hanson is an American jazz bassoonist, saxophonist, and duduk player.

He attended Berkeley High School. He received a bachelor of music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as a student of San Francisco Symphony Orchestra principal bassoonist Stephen Paulson.

He has performed with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, the Paul Dresher Ensemble, Wayne Shorter, Dewey Redman, Billy Higgins, Bob Moses, and numerous other groups. In 2005 and 2006 he toured Latin America with Cirque du Soleil's show Saltimbanco. He has also toured the United States, Europe, and Japan with artists such as the Swedish bass guitarist Jonas Hellborg, guitarist Joel Harrison, The Klezmorim, Peter Apfelbaum and the Hieroglyphics Ensemble, the American composer Terry Riley, Afro-pop band Kotoja, and 1980s crooner Eddie Money. In summer 2008 he traveled to Tokyo, Japan to be part of a new Cirque Du Soleil resident production in summer 2008. He is currently performing in the band of Cirque du Soleil's ZED, playing the bassoon and Armenian duduk.

Hanson sometimes uses electronic processing to alter or augment the sound of his bassoon.