From blues to bossa to ballads to swing to latin to folk to funk to reggae to bebop, singer\u2010songwriter\u00ad\u2010guitarist Sean Sullivan always serves up a savory gumbo of grooves from his own distinctive melting pot. The southern-\u00adborn native New Yorker and Tribeca resident believes family heritage and environment are key ingredients in his ability to cook up myriad musical flavors. \u201cMy mother was born in West Virginia of French and Cherokee descent, her father was a Nazarene minister, and her grandfather was a bible\u2010totin\u2019 circuit rider (c.c.rider). In a sense, I feel as though I carry on the preaching legacy as a performer.\u201d Add to this rural rouille a dash of island spice and a cup of urban bohemia. \u201cWhen I was a child we moved to the Bahamas for a year and then on to the upper west side of Manhattan. Although they were both freelance writers professionally, my mother had been a dancer with Martha Graham, was an activist and a poet, and my stepfather had hosted a jazz radio show and was an avid painter. The apartment was filled with music and art. My earliest performances were at parties at home, attended by hipster friends and celebrities. They would march me out in my pajamas to do my impersonations of rock, pop and jazz legends. My real father was a true New Yorker from \u201cbootlegger\u201d stock, born in Brooklyn, Jesuit\u00ad\u2010educated with a mob lawyer dad. Growing up in a flamboyant family atmosphere had its ups and downs, but ultimately I\u2019m grateful for the emphasis on creativity, the arts, and liberal education.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was while attending the arts\u00ad\u2010oriented New Lincoln School in Manhattan that Sullivan began playing guitar, singing in musicals and assemblies, and with the school choir. A simultaneous interest in classic fiction was further ignited at Wesleyan University, where he earned a degree in English Literature, while continuing a wide range of musical studies. \u201cWith the Wesleyan Singers I performed Gregorian chants, madrigals, and avant\u2010garde music. One score had us banging on junkyard metal and uttering nonsense sounds. Wesleyan pioneered the world music scene, so I experienced a \u2018global village\u2019 with a variety of concerts and teachers that would pry open even the most jaded western mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

After college, Sullivan started playing professionally in the Boston area while studying jazz formally at Berklee College of Music and classical guitar at the New England Conservatory. Following a period of solo gigs in the United States and Puerto Rico, he finally returned to New York. \u201cArnie Lawrence at the New School heard a demo tape I\u2019d made and invited me down to study jazz. The first day I walked in, and there was Jon Hendricks telling stories to a class taught by his daughter Michelle. I was stunned. After all, I\u2019d been listening to his music since early childhood. \u2018Gimme That Wine\u2019, \u2018Cloudburst\u2019, and all those Lambert, Hendricks & Ross tunes were family heirlooms.\u201d Sullivan and Hendricks formed an immediate friendship finding many common points, love of literature, Native American ancestry, and above all, jazz vocalese, blues, bebop and scat singing. Sullivan began to learn from Hendricks both in and out of a school setting, absorbing his wisdom as an improviser and as a lyricist.<\/p>\n

Through his association with Hendricks, Sullivan met and gigged with some of New York\u2019s finest musicians including tenor sax legend David \u201cFathead\u201d Newman (featured on Square One) and pianist\/singer Teri Thornton. \u201cI feel incredibly blessed to have hung out with greats like Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams, Oscar Brown Jr., Abbey Lincoln and many others. These encounters and the \u2018school of gigs\u2019 have shaped me and kept me in the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

For songwriting inspiration, Sullivan credits the mastery of over two hundred tunes from bebop to bossa to blues to tin pan alley to singer\u00ad\u2010songwriters as the guiding force behind his work. In light of his travels and family background he adds, \u201cI\u2019m equally at home with the downhome blues, standards, Latin and bossa or singer\u00ad\u2010 songwriter material, and I think this is apparent in my originals.\u201d Of his process Sullivan confides that he writes “intuitively, usually from a central idea or phrase that comes from God knows where. Once a workable idea reveals itself I continue to write the song, because I know its there. I try to stay out of the way of overthinking and let the song write itself. Of course that doesn\u2019t mean that the rest of the song may come as spontaneously as did the generative idea, but I believe that even a slowly crafted song must still be one of gut recognition to ring true. The intellect is only a tool to serve the higher intelligence of the human spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

That philosophy propels Sullivan\u2019s latest project “Hereafter”, a title that aptly evokes the timeless qualities therein. Helmed by veteran producer Matt Pierson, recorded at legendary Sear Sound, and supported by a host of consummate musicians, the project contains eight originals and four covers infused with a bluesy, earthy vibe that alternately soothes and sermonizes with a side of wry gravy and a proper dollop of Big Easy-\u00adstyle funk. Meditative moments include \u201cWash My Soul\u201d, an elegy to the sea, \u201cWandering Home\u201d, an allegorical tale of self\u00ad\u2010discovery, and the healing simplicity of \u201cOnly Love\u201d. On the flipside the BBQ blazes with fat\u00ad\u2010poppin\u2019 foot\u00ad\u2010stompers like \u201cGod Is In The Blues\u201d, \u201cReady\u201d, and the folksy funk of title track \u201cHereafter\u201d, that opens with \u201cWell I dreamed I went to heaven to my final resting place, I found Jesus on the saxophone and God was thumpin\u2019 bass\u201d. Lowdown noiresque minor\u2010key blues \u201cA Man\u2019s Woman\u201d fogs up the mirror while \u201cDon\u2019t Get Me Started\u201d confesses an unstoppable jones for making music that calls to mind the groovy soul of Marvin Gaye. Cover\u00ad\u2010wise, inventive ballad versions of Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain” and Stevie Wonder’s “Until You Come Back To Me” are standouts, as well as knowing nods to Michael Franks’ “Jive”, and mentor Jon Hendricks’ comic ode to oenophiles “Gimme That Wine”.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Sullivan insists his musical \u2018raison d\u2019etre\u2019 arises from listening to both his heart and to what people respond to on the gig. \u201cThey seem to dig my bluesy approach, variety of grooves, and originals. If you listen to your audience, they will tell you who you are\u201d. A two-\u00adtime winner of the John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Sean Sullivan has performed at such prestigious venues as Freihofer’s Jazz Festival at Saratoga, the Mellon Jazz Fest, Time Warner American Music Fest, Birdland, Iridium, and the premier of Netaid at the United Nations. He has taught vocal jazz at the NYU School of Music, JazzMobile, and the Vermont Jazz Center. Formal training includes jazz studies at Berklee College of Music, the New England Conservatory, the New School, and a BA in English Literature from Wesleyan University.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From blues to bossa to ballads to swing to latin to folk to funk to reggae to bebop, singer\u2010songwriter\u00ad\u2010guitarist Sean Sullivan always serves up a savory gumbo of grooves from his own distinctive melting pot. The southern-\u00adborn native New Yorker and Tribeca resident believes family heritage and environment are key ingredients in his ability to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15,"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2\/revisions\/15"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seansongs.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}