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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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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 ...

328
Album Review

Sean Conly: Re:Action

Read "Re:Action" reviewed by Clifford Allen


Bassist Sean Conly is an extraordinarily busy player, perhaps somewhat of a yeoman--he's worked with figures as diverse in approach as the violinists Sam Bardfeld and Regina Carter. But if he has a particular mettle, it might just be in the unruly, driving and highly plastic music of this ensemble. Conly, saxists Michael Attias and Tony Malaby and drummer Pheeroan akLaff take on on a program of ten originals and a cover of Eric Dolphy's “Gazzelloni." There ...

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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

New York Nowhere

Redefinition Music
2021

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The Mara Rosenbloom...

Fresh Sound Records
2020

buy

Hard Knocks

Clean Feed Records
2018

buy

Grass Roots

AUM Fidelity
2013

buy

Think Shadow

OutNow Recordings
2012

buy

Re:Action

Clean Feed Records
2009

buy

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