SEAN LYONS
BIOGRAPHY
Born and raised in Boston, Sean Lyons was exposed to jazz since birth by his jazz
fanatic father who always had bebop records playing at home. He started saxophone
studies at age ten with his first private lesson from sax legend Sonny Stitt. Throughout
the rest of his childhood, Sean was an intense music student and spent his summers at a
music school in the Berkshires studying jazz and classical music. He went on to win
numerous music awards in high school and at age eighteen performed in the Paris Jazz
Festival. He was awarded a scholarship to Berklee College of Music and after graduating
there Magna Cum Laude, Sean traveled the world for several years performing on luxury
liner cruise ships that took him to the Hawaiian Islands, Alaska, Central and South
America, the Caribbean and Europe. He later made his home base in Hawaii for three
years while performing there and other places such as New York, Boston, San Francisco,
Los Angeles, London, and Italy.
In 1993, Sean traveled to Seoul, Korea for a six-month gig, but surprisingly stayed for
four years after becoming one of Korea’s busiest jazz musicians. He became a familiar
face to millions of Koreans while appearing numerous times on every television network
in the country. He also did extensive work on many cable TV and radio stations, as well
as recorded on several CDs and appeared as the featured artist in hundreds of live
performances. During that time, Sean occasionally flew back to the States to play with
such jazz masters as George Coleman, Jon Faddis, Curtis Fuller, Al Foster, Billy Hart,
Alan Dawson, and others.
While living in Korea, Sean became a dedicated and ambitious student of the Korean
martial art of Taekwondo. While applying the same learning techniques to Taekwondo
that he previously mastered while studying music, he earned his first and second-degree
black belts and fought in several Taekwondo tournaments, winning two gold medals and
one silver.
In 1997, Sean left Korea to return to the U.S. to live in the center of the jazz world, New
York City. Though he continues to perform internationally, Manhattan is his home where
he works in a variety of settings as a freelance jazz musician while also leading several
groups of his own. Sean is a recording artist currently under contract with the jazz label,
Posi-Tone Records. His new recording produced by saxophonist Kenny Garrett, features
legendary drummer Al Foster, pianist David Hazeltine, and bassist John Webber with
special guest appearances by trumpeters Tom Harrell and Jim Rotondi, and trombonist
Conrad Herwig. Since it’s release, “Roar of Lyons” has been in the JazzWeek national
radio report’s top 100 for 19 weeks (3 weeks in the top 50).
Other well-known jazz artists Sean has worked with are: Lew Tabackin, Victor Lewis,
Carl Allen, Kenny Drew Jr., Joey Calderazzo, Brian Lynch, Geoff Keezer, Mike
LeDonne, James Genus, Herb Pomeroy, Bernard Purdie, Benny Powell, Lonnie Plaxico,
Ira Coleman, George Garzone, Rachel Z, Emil Richards, Gray Sargent, Gabe Baltazar,
Greg Hopkins, Jimmy Owens, Eddie Locke, Duane Burno, John Lockwood, Joe Cohn,
Paul Gill, Kenny Davis, Danny Mixon and Cecil Bridgewater.
Sean also leads an active teaching career and is dedicated to enriching the lives of
children by sharing his musical knowledge and experiences with them.
Regardless of where in the world you first encounter Sean Lyons' adventurous career
path, you will certainly be moved by his dynamic energy, electrifying musicianship, and
his deep emotional expression through jazz.
(917) 570-0273
LyonsJazz @gmail.com
www.LyonsJazz.com