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Sean Noonan

Rhythmic storyteller Sean Noonan composes and conducts with a pair of drum sticks original multi-stylistic American music. The treasures that he finds along the way are filtered through his distinctive vision to become the unpredictable and far-ranging sounds of Noonan’s wide-spectrum music, which combines the eloquence of an Irish bard, the narrative rhythms of Samuel Beckett, and the raw physicality of a street-smart boxer.

An Irish-American drummer with a theatrical bent and a passion for African rhythms, Noonan’s excursions are both geographical, taking him to far-flung corners of the world to study cultural and conceptual traditions as he explores the outer limits of music to soak in harmolodic jazz, bleeding-edge rock or avant-garde classical influences. His “wandering folk” theory captures the elusiveness of ever-evolving world music traditions and reorients them through his own particular lens.

That nomadic muse has led Noonan in a wealth of unexpected directions, resulting in an explosion of dynamic releases and projects spanning more than 19 albums and hundreds of performances in more than a dozen countries, including such international festivals as Timezone Festival, EFG London Jazz, Bergen Natt Jazz, Incubate and Jazz Liege. He’s worked with an incredible array of artists from across the literal and musical map, including Abdoulaye Diabaté, Marc Ribot, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mat Maneri, Susan McKeown, and Can’s Malcolm Mooney.

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Album Review

Sean Noonan: The Aqua Diva

Read "The Aqua Diva" reviewed by Don Phipps


Surreal, comic, wistful, and whimsical, Sean Noonan's The Aqua Diva provides a unique journey into a world that is part Tom Waits, part Mose Allison, part Frank Zappa, and a whole lot of Sean Noonan. Noonan articulates and sings odd ditties and lyrics which introduce us to the Aqua Diva, Bubbles, the Smoking Man, and other strange and colorful personas. He is joined on his musical expose by Alex Marcelo on piano and Peter Bitenc on bass. On ...

3
Catching Up With

Sean Noonan: Not Simply Beating a Dead Horse Drum

Read "Sean Noonan: Not Simply Beating a Dead Horse Drum" reviewed by Phillip Woolever


Composer and drummer Sean Noonan is an explorer, charting many edges of the compositional frontier. The term unique does not quite cover the range of his thoughtful, abstract approach to musical narrative.Edgy is often the operative theme in Noonan's repertoire, gleamed from studious sojourns to distant cultures and locales. Noonan's results take form in string-based dreamscapes or saxophone solos layered over Parliament/Funkadelic style aqua-grooves. His beats can cover science fiction, pounding punk and orchestral visions on Frank Zappa.

2
Album Review

Sean Noonan: Man No Longer Me

Read "Man No Longer Me" reviewed by Matt Hooke


From the first bass notes of “Man Vs. Machine" the opening track from Sean Noonan's Man No Longer Me it's obvious that this isn't your average jazz fusion record. The Irish American Noonan combines West African rhythms, with jazz harmony, and the absurdist humor and attitude of Frank Zappa, making this release a welcome respite from the tepid “Berklee Funk" that often populates jazz fusion. The album is based on the loose concept of a man's transformation into ...

9
Album Review

Sean Noonan: Man No Longer Me

Read "Man No Longer Me" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


Drummer and self-declared Storyteller Sean Noonan's body of work draws from a variety of different music and poetry of past and present. Having explored various musical cultures in the past, Noonan feels as much as home with cutting edge distorted punk riffs as he does with mellow Jazz Fusion or even chamber music. On his most recent outing Man No Longer Me he combines his entire catalogue of approaches and fuses it to a homogenous whole. Spoken word arrangements meet ...

6
Album Review

Sean Noonan: Man No Longer Me

Read "Man No Longer Me" reviewed by Chris Mosey


Man No Longer Me is about the transformation of a man who gets tickled by a sunbeam one morning on a mountain top and who, as the story progresses, wanders and gets lost in a desert and transforms into a coyote. All clear, so far? New York avant-garde drummer Sean Noonan's incoherent, barely musical ramblings were born from “harmolodic jazz, bleeding-edge rock and avant-garde classical music. “He is a modern day ...

My Favourite Things

Sean Noonan e il Questionario di Proust

Read "Sean Noonan e il Questionario di Proust" reviewed by Paolo Peviani


All About Jazz: Il tratto principale della mia musica. Sean Noonan: “Questo, questo." “Sì?" “Questo è il CONTRARIO di noioso" (come ha detto qualcuno su http://louderthanwar.com/sean-noonan-cantus-domus-stargaze-haldern-pop-2016). AAJ: La qualità che desidero nei musicisti che suonano con me. SN: Che abbiano sempre voglia di rischiare e che non abbiano paura di esplorare nuovi territori musicali. AAJ: Come musicista, il momento in cui sono stato più felice. SN: ...

Album Review

Sean Noonan: A Gambler's Hand

Read "A Gambler's Hand" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff


L'impiego di un quartetto d'archi in ambiti jazzistici e di improvvisazione non è più una novità già da parecchio tempo; sono molti infatti musicisti e compositori che hanno contribuito ad abbattere i muri che separano sempre più debolmente i vari settori della musica contemporanea (basti pensare a Kronos Quartet e John Zorn tanto per fare un paio di nomi). Eppure, il batterista Sean Noonan riesce ancora a sorprendere con questo suo lavoro, una suite per batteria e quartetto d'archi che ...

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3

Recording

Sean Noonan Releases Pavees Dance 'Slide Gate': An Epic Journey Of Transformation And Conflict Through Experimental Jazz Rock

Sean Noonan Releases Pavees Dance 'Slide Gate': An Epic Journey Of Transformation And Conflict Through Experimental Jazz Rock

Source: GoMedia PR

Drummer and composer Sean Noonan, celebrated as a “Rhythmic Storyteller,” unveils his latest release, Slide Gate, marking the third installment from the jazz-rock ensemble Pavees Dance. On the new album, Noonan is once again joined by the original Can vocalist, Malcolm Mooney, the legendary bassist Jamaaladeen Tacuma (Ornette Coleman's Prime Time), and the guitarist Ava Mendoza (Unnatural Ways). Comprised of ten tracks, Slide Gate embarks on a storytelling adventure which revolves around an android's quest to reclaim its humanity. Within ...

4

Recording

Drummer/Composer And Rhythmic Storyteller Sean Noonan To Release Two Imaginative New Albums In Early 2022

Drummer/Composer And Rhythmic Storyteller Sean Noonan To Release Two  Imaginative New Albums In Early 2022

Source: GoMedia PR

Drummer and composer Sean Noonan has long preferred the term “Rhythmic Storyteller” to describe his audacious, genre-defiant artistry. As a modern-day self-described sonic griot he combines the most ancient of traditions with forward-seeking experimentation; as a kind of post-modern wandering minstrel he gathers irreverent folk tales and offbeat inspirations from various cultures and translates them through his own singular worldview. The first of the two releases that he has slated for 2022 is Knott Tones, a collision of new music ...

3

Recording

Sean Noonan's Stories From Behind The Drum Kit Continue With Bruised By Noon

Sean Noonan's Stories From Behind The Drum Kit Continue With Bruised By Noon

Source: GoMedia PR

Bruised by Noon, A Limited Edition Solo Drum Project Which Concludes the Tale of Finny Finnigan, the Gambler Who Was Introduced on Noonan's Critically Acclaimed 2012 Project A Gambler's Hand, Available as CD, Download and Vinyl and Accompanying Book Drummer/composer/storyteller/producer Sean Noonan is among the most prolific and innovative musicians of his generation. Just a few months after the release of his punk-rock influenced Pavees Dance: There's Always the Night, which paired the 38 year old drummer with Malcolm Mooney, ...

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Radio

Sean Noonan Will Preview Music From New CD On Concert Window Webcast On May 28

Sean Noonan Will Preview Music From New CD On Concert Window Webcast On May 28

Source: GoMedia PR

On Wednesday, May 28, drummer, composer and producer Sean Noonan will preview music from his upcoming June 3 album, Pavees Dance: There's Always the Night, in a very special webcast on Concert Window. The live, real-time performance will feature Noonan, along with keyboardist Alex Marcelo, and - in a rare performance - former Can frontman Malcolm Mooney. The webcast will begin at 5:00 PM Eastern time. In addition to the watching the performance, viewers will get to chat live during ...

Recording

Sean Noonan's A Gambler's Hand Is A Further Step Forward In His Evolving Blend Of Music And Narrative

Sean Noonan's A Gambler's Hand Is A Further Step Forward In His Evolving Blend Of Music And Narrative

Source: GoMedia PR

Drummer's Latest, Along With Oudist Gordon Grdina's Her Eyes Illuminate, Will Be Released by Songlines on August 14 Songlines Recordings will once again traverse musical boundaries and challenge genre specificity with its two August releases: Sean Noonan's A Gambler's Hand and Gordon Grdina's Haram's Her Eyes Illuminate. While Noonan's last release for Songlines, Boxing Dreams (2008), featured such unlikely combinations as Irish and West African vocalists singing simultaneously in Gaelic and Bambara against raucous guitar and hyperactive drums, A Gambler's ...

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Event

Sean Noonan's Brewed by Noon: November 9th & 18th with Thierno Camara, Aram Bajakian, Abdoulaye Diabate, Mat Maneri

Sean Noonan's Brewed by Noon: November 9th & 18th with Thierno Camara, Aram Bajakian, Abdoulaye Diabate, Mat Maneri

Source: All About Jazz

Brewed By Noon pre-recording session sneak album preview performances When:Tea Lounge, Friday, November 9, 9pm Soundfix Records, Sunday, November 18, 7pm With: Thierno Camara -bass/vocals, Aram Bajakian -guitar, Abdoulaye Diabate -vocals, Mat Maneri - viola, Sean Noonan - drums SEAN NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON DELIVERS A RICH BLEND OF TRADITIONS ON STORIES TO TELL Drummer/composer Sean Noonan describes Brewed by Noon as “tribal rhythms by an Irish griot....My goal is to adapt folklore in a modern jazz context, ...

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Performance / Tour

Sean Noonan's Brewed By Noon American Composers Forum premiere w/ Marc Ribot, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mat Maneri, Abdoulaye Diabate, Susan McKeown etc.

Sean Noonan's Brewed By Noon American Composers Forum premiere w/ Marc Ribot, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Mat Maneri, Abdoulaye Diabate, Susan McKeown etc.

Source: All About Jazz

NOONAN'S BREWED BY NOON DELIVERS A RICH BLEND OF TRADITIONS ON STORIES TO TELL

Songlines Debut from NY-based Drummer Fuses Jazz-Punk, Rock, Blues with Celtic and West African Rhythms

Speaking of his Brewed by Noon project, which will release its new CD, Stories To Tell, on January 9, 2007, drummer Sean Noonan describes it as “tribal rhythms by an Irish griot". “My goal is to adapt folklore in a modern jazz context, merging storytelling and folk music from bardic and ...

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Performance / Tour

Sean Noonan's Brewed by Noon To Debut American Composers Forum-Commissioned Pieces at New York's Symphony Space

Sean Noonan's Brewed by Noon To Debut American Composers Forum-Commissioned Pieces at New York's Symphony Space

Source: GoMedia PR

On January 13, 2007, drummer/composer Sean Noonan and Brewed by Noon will premier the first set of twelve compositions commissioned by the American Composers Forum, at the Leonard Nimoy Thalia at Symphony Space in Manhattan.

Noonan was awarded the commission by the Jerome Foundation Commissioning Program in 2005, based on his goal of creating original compositions which fuse traditional wandering folk music with concepts from the New York progressive jazz scene. The Commission will underwrite a total of 24 original ...

"Independence might be the ruling concept of this drummer/leader’s career. It defines a common relationship not only among his hands, feet, and voice, but between his art and almost everything else in drumland". Modern Drummer Magazine

"Encapsulating a kaleidoscope of styles, in fact far too many to mention, the constantly changing and evolving canvas on which Noonan paints his wonderful musical landscape make it fascinating and a joy to listen to." Bebopspokenhere

"This is not the typical release but an experience. A dynamic and virtually flawless execution of art at an apex of creativity few can match." Brent Black @CriticalJazz

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Slide Gate

SNMR1011
2023

buy

Knott Tones

Noonanmusic
2022

buy

The Aqua Diva

noonansmusic
2018

buy

Man No Longer Me

Haldern Pop Recordings
2017

buy

In the Ring

Unknown label
2014

buy

Pussy Cat's Gone Wild

From: Man No Longer Me
By Sean Noonan

Bruised by Noon Bout 3

From: Sean Noonan Bruised by Noon
By Sean Noonan

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