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Sean Conly

Sean Conly is a bassist (electric/contrabass) and composer whose love and affection for a huge spectrum of the world’s musics have made him an extremely versatile performer. As a player and a writer, Sean is constantly looking for ways to mix the traditional with the new, in an never ending journey to mix melody harmony rhythm and sound into a unique artistic voice.

Born in Gunnison Colorado, raised in Topeka Kansas, he has been obsessed with music for his entire life. At age six,Sean began playing guitar and writing songs trying to emulate the music his parents loved such as the Beatles, The Doors and Harry Nilsson. In school band Sean played percussion but as his teen years began and he wanted to start a band he picked up the electric bass. "My grandmother bought me a bass for Christmas when I was thirteen. It came with a Mel Bay method book which I stayed up most of the night devouring and then the next morning I went to a band tryout ." Within A few months Sean started to play around town. For the rest of his teens he played in numerous bands performing in venues across the Midwest. Sean was already a voracious listener and was spending many nights glued to the radio discovering any and all kinds of music. Punk funk rock metal r/b and many more styles were all in constant rotation. Eventually It was thru these nighttime binges that he became more and more attracted to jazz and improvised music from such artists as Charle Mingus The Revolutionary Ensemble and Ornette Coleman and Jaco Pastorius.

After high school, Sean moved to Kansas City to attend the UMKC Conservatory of Music where he began to study the Contrabass, but his real education happened on the bandstand with local legends such as Ahmad Alaadeen, Tim (Timbone) Williams, Jay McShann, Claude “fiddler” Williams Rich Hill, Norman "Bishop" Williams, Horace Washington and many others.

Studying in the days and working 4 or 5 nights a week helped him solidify his playing, He also started to write and arrange music for his own groups, and for the university's jazz orchestra and for mentor Ahmad Alaadeen. Kansas City had a lot to offer but Sean had always had his eyes set on moving to New York City, so in an attempt to learn more and to bridge the gap between NYC and KC, he moved to Paterson New Jersey to study under Rufus Reid at William Paterson University.

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7
Album Review

Michael Attias: Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall

Read "Quartet Music Vol I: LuMiSong & Vol II: Kardamon Fall" reviewed by John Sharpe


Saxophonist Michaël Attias has impressed on the NYC scene for over three decades. He has recorded with Paul Motian, Anthony Braxton and Taylor Ho Bynum, while artists like Eric Revis, Anthony Coleman and Kris Davis have covered his compositions. But despite such recognition, Attias's discography undeservedly languishes in single figures. His decision to issue two volumes of quartet music, Lumisong and Kardamon Fall, available separately or together in a single package, represents the next step in his evolution ...

Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)

Read "The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Vincenzo Roggero


Musicista non ancora quarantenne, da noi poco conosciuto,Caleb Wheeler Curtis sassofonista, trombettista, compositore newyorchese, licenzia il suo album più ambizioso, un doppio CD che già dal titolo fa presagire qualcosa di assai lontano da un rassicurante mainstream. The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery, questo il titolo (ogni riferimento a Frank Zappa è puramente casuale), è un doppio CD che presenta due differenti trii, registrati a pochi mesi di distanza. Nel primo, che porta ...

14
Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)

Read "The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Paul Rauch


Caleb Wheeler Curtis is one of the more daring musicians in jazz today, not only in his approach to playing the saxophone, but in his fearless dedication to his own musical conceptions, expressed clearly in his original compositions. That daring and dedication can be equally attributed to many of the shakers and movers of modern jazz, including one Thelonious Sphere Monk. On his double album release, The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Imani, 2024), Curtis ...

17
Album Review

Caleb Wheeler Curtis: The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)

Read "The True Story of Bears and the Invention of the Battery (Deluxe Edition)" reviewed by Troy Dostert


There has always been room in jazz for those creative minds who can bridge the gap between the heart of tradition and the leading edge of change. In the world of saxophonists, Thomas Chapin, Arthur Blythe, Julius Hemphill or David Murray easily come to mind. Multi-instrumentalist Caleb Wheeler Curtis has similarly explored this terrain for years, and like his forebears, he often does his best work in a trio format. His August in March (Imani Records, 2023) was an imaginative ...

5
Album Review

Reggie Quinerly: New York Nowhere

Read "New York Nowhere" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Born in Houston, drummer Reggie Quinerly attended his hometown's famous High School of the Performing and Visual Arts. He then moved on to study under such masters as Jimmy Cobb, Lewis Nash, and Kenny Washington in the Masters in Jazz Studies program at Juilliard, and released his debut recording, Music Inspired by Freedmantown (Self Produced, 2012) soon after graduating. Quinerly composed New York Nowhere, his fourth release as a leader, as his farewell to the city he called ...

69
Album Review

Sean Conly: Hard Knocks

Read "Hard Knocks" reviewed by Glenn Astarita


This trio gives credence to the old saying that, “too many cooks spoil the broth." Given the musicians' course of action, it would seem that additional instrumentalists may have gotten in the way of progress. This is due to the band's extreme agility coupled with a horde of alternative routes, undulating bop grooves, an uncluttered soundstage and tight unison outbreaks. And with Michaël Attias' fluid, whispery tones and venomous solo sprees, the trio's airtight scope of attack also includes melodic ...

3
Album Review

Sean Conly / Michael Attias: Think Shadow

Read "Think Shadow" reviewed by Eyal Hareuveni


This is an intimate meeting between old friends. Bassist Sean Conlyand Michäel Attias who collaborated before on Conly's Re: Action (Clean Feed, 2012) and on Attias' recent Spun Tree (Clean Feed, 2012). But this recording features both musicians who work now as the Think Shadow duo. Here, they improvise on the spot, creating melody, rhythm, and harmony, searching for a mutual language. The fifteen duets are subdued and restrained. Conly and Attias leave enough space for each ...

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73
Performance / Tour

Lola Danza Sings Cornelia Street Cafe, Tuesday Dec. 28th at 9:30PM with Grey McMurray, Sean Conly, Jason Nazary

Source: Lola Danza

"With a stunning voice that elongates words and phrases with almost ethereal clarity, Danza follows her own muse stylistically, preferring the spare and airy to the busy and hot."—Bob Young Boston Herald This appearance at Cornelia Street Café will mark the premier of Lola Danza's latest musical works which will soon be released on her upcoming album “Human Condition." With her four-octave range and vast array of vocal technique, Ms. Danza's voice is rich, full and resonate. Lola's music reveals ...

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Performance / Tour

Lola Danza Sings at the Bowery Poetry Club November 26th with Sean Conly and Rich Stein

Lola Danza Sings at the Bowery Poetry Club November 26th with Sean Conly and Rich Stein

Source: All About Jazz

The innovative vocalist and composer, Lola Danza celebrates her project Nadu featuring Sean Conly acoustic bass, Rich Stein drums and Phil Grenadier trumpet with visual artist, painter Jacqueline Chachitz and dancer Lenora Lee, Monday, November 26th 2007 at 8pm at the Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery St. between Houston & Bleecker St. 212.614.0505 New York, NY 10012). The project Nadu infuses two mediums: music and visual art. Nadu celebrates the organic, the spiritual and the primal creation of music, dance ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The True Story of...

Imani / 88 Keys Productions
2024

buy

Quartet Music Vol I:...

Out Of Your Head Records
2024

buy

New York Nowhere

Redefinition Music
2021

buy

The Mara Rosenbloom...

Fresh Sound Records
2020

buy

Hard Knocks

Clean Feed Records
2018

buy

Grass Roots

AUM Fidelity
2013

buy

Oska T

From: The True Story of Bears and the...
By Sean Conly

The First Question

From: The True Story of Bears and the...
By Sean Conly

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