Sean Nowell

Sean Nowell is a tenor saxophonist and composer from Birmingham, Alabama steeped in the southern traditions of blues, gospel, jazz, and funk fused with the complex harmonic and world rhythmic concepts that permeate the music of New York City. While in Alabama, he sang in cathedrals with a national touring a cappella choir and was exposed to vocal music from Germany, Eastern Europe, and Africa. He received a BA in Composition from Berklee College of Music in Boston in Jazz Composition and a MA from Manhattan School of Music in New York in Performance. He has composed and improvised film scores, music for ballet and theatre, 20th century classical music, big band, and small jazz ensembles and has pushed the timbral boundaries of the saxophone, flute, bass clarinet, and Udu (Nigerian clay pot drum) by integrating electronic effects pedals with those acoustic instruments. He has traveled and collaborated with dancers, actors, painters, stilt walkers, and acrobats on multiple tours of China, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia, Romania, France, Germany, Hungary, Holland, Belgium, Colombia, Venezuela, Singapore and the United States as Musical Director for Bond Street Theatre over the past decade. He’s participated in united clashing religious and ethnic groups in Kosovo through music and has been proud to serve as an unofficial artistic ambassador for the United States by exchanging social and artistic ideas and holding master classes in these countries on American Jazz, learning the folk music of the regions, and then incorporating it into his compositional and improvisational style. He also recorded with Stanley Clarke and George Duke for the movie "Soul Men".

Sean is also part of some of the most creative, forward thinking ensembles in the city, including: Travis Sullivan’s Bjorkestra, Justin Mullens’ Delphian Jazz Orchestra, 3/4 Free, MonAtomic, the KUNG-FU MASTERS, the Yutaka Uchida Quartet, Vortex Nine vs. Space Fantasy Unit, Dub is a Weapon. He has had multiple tours with his fx driven funk band, MonAtomic, and performs regularly in the top jazz clubs in New York City including the BLUE NOTE, SMALLS, 55 BAR, KNITTNG FACTORY, CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE, BB KINGS, LOUIS 649, BOWERY POETRY CLUB, FAT BABY, ZEBULON, also abroad in Club JZ (Shanghai), CD Jazz (Beijing), Café Plato (Belgrade) and has played the JVC Jazz Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival and for 30,000 people at the Montreal Jazz Festival.

For More information on Sean Nowell go to: www.seannowell.com