Bio

Hans has been playing drums professionally since the age of 13. Mature and with a musical sensibility beyond his years, Hans worked as a teenager with such seminal figures of Canadian jazz as Donnie Clark, Patrick Coleman, John Forrest, Ross Taggart, Ken Lister, and Paul Landsberg. 

In Toronto Hans attended Humber College, playing alongside and working with Brandi Disterheft, Laila Biali, Shirantha Bedagge, Peter Van Huffle, and Nathan Hiltz, and studying extensively with Don Thompson and Bob McLaren.

In Montreal Hans delved deeply into jazz drums with the great Chris McCann at McGill University, and performed regularly with Andres Vial, Vanessa Rodrigues, Dave Turner, Paul Shrofel, Sarah Latendresse, Rafael Zaldivar, Al McLean, and many others. 

In British Columbia since 2012, Hans added classical percussion to his palette and earned a graduate degree from the University of Victoria with percussionist, conductor, and educator William Linwood. Hans was a member of the faculty of music at Vancouver Island University from 2012 – 2025, and during that time he performed and recorded with a who’s who of Canadian jazz legends, including Don Thompson, PJ Perry, Oliver Gannon, Neil Swainson, Phil Dwyer, Brad Turner, Christine Jensen, Tony Genge, Ryan Oliver, Brian Dickinson, Nick Peck, Jennifer Scott, Rene Worst, Hugh Fraser, and many more. 

Hans is currently performing and teaching throughout Canada’s west coast and is leading two unique projects: The Deadly Nightshades are a funk/neo-soul/R’n’B/fusionesque/groove band, and Quartet! featuring Andrew Janusson, Nick Peck, and the great Mike Allen on tenor and soprano saxophones.