Hanrahan was born in a Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx to an Irish-Jewish family.[1] He has an unusual role in the albums released under his name, one which he has analogized to that of a film director. He assembles players and materials, combining modern/avant-garde/free jazz figures like Don Pullen and Steve Swallow, Latin jazz players such as Milton Cardona and Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez, and occasionally rock singers like Sting and, most notably, Jack Bruce.He produced a number of significant recordings by the nuevo tango master stor Piazzolla in the last decade of Piazzolla's life, as well as recordings by Latin music figures including Jerry Gonzalez. Hanrahan also worked with the poet Ishmael Reed on three recordings with the Conjure Ensemble, including 2006's Bad Mouth. These side projects were not the only poetry-based discs: Darn It from 1994 celebrates the work of Paul Haines.[2]