Home » Jazz Articles » Sean McGowan
Jazz Articles about Sean McGowan
Sean McGowan: Sphere
by Florence Wetzel
For many jazz lovers, pianist Thelonious Monk's solo recordings of his own compositions are an exquisite pleasure. The simplicity of a single instrument reveals the compositions' elegant architecture, allowing their angular beauty to become refreshingly clear. The challenge and joy of recording Monk's music solo continues to entice musicians, thus creating afresh some of the twentieth century's most enduring artworks. Guitarist Sean McGowan pays homage to Monk on Sphere, titled after Monk's unique middle name. McGowan has drawn ...
read moreSean McGowan: Sphere
by David Rickert
Those who seek to create a tribute album of Thelonious Monk music face one big obstacle: how do you capture Monk's idiosyncratic style without sounding like a pale imitation? You could just record cover versions of his songs and leave it at that, but the end result wouldn't really capture the pianist's oddball genius, so what would be the point? Perhaps Sean McGowan has found the best solution: adapt Monk's music to a different instrument than piano. Sphere, ...
read moreSean McGowan: Indigo
by Martin Gladu
"When the smith gets wildly excited, 'tis best to agree with him," warns the Gaelic proverb. Needless to say when a person's full name translates into “Oldest Son of the Smith" the weight of such patronymic suddenly takes a whole new importance. Fortunately, guitarist Sean McGowan need not resort to swinging heavy apparatus to elicit the same reverence fellow clansmen vowed his ancestral namesake. Quite on the contrary, he is armed with only a Brad Nickerson-made hollow body guitar that ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 12
