Sean McMahon

With Sean McMahon at NEC in 2007

I really haven't taken the time to write about my experiences with particular people before, but (perhaps using Ellington as a model) I think this would be a good place to start.

As far as I can remember, I met Sean in 2006, right around the time I had begun seriously thinking about applying to the C.I program at NEC. He was a transfer too, so he had alot of insights, and like me, he came from a composition program. He's a multi-instrumentalist, and had a classical upbringing.  When I heard him play with Dominique Eade's ensemble, I knew I had to end up there. I still have that recording (from Spring 2007), but I won't post it. When I got to the Conservatory, Sean and I worked together a good amount, and I still like alot of what we did.  The picture above was taken by our friend Amy Mills in JH 342 in the late months of 2007. My first recital at NEC (Winter 2008) featured a trio with Sean & Elden Kelly (another singer-songwriter type who improvised with us). That trio never fully gelled, but it was a lot of fun, and I feel like it definitely needed to happen. 

My creative endeavors with Sean have been largely hit-or-miss, and I feel the need to emphasize this. Though it wasn't always natural, it was completely honest and I learned how to adapt to my musical surroundings really well. Later, we came up with some things that were really good. That sort of adaptation is something I've been dealing with increasingly up here in VT (the who and where), and it is one of the things that reminds me of Sean at this time. He showed me alot of music, including Qawwali (Sufi devotional songs), and a number of other things that changed how I listened to things, and what I listened for.


Qawwali of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Party


Eastern Surf Rock from the 70's

At NEC, we did two performances with 5 or 6 piece groups that involved spoken word. One of them was in Jordan Hall (we used music from Brian Eno, and text from E.B White). This was on an annual concert called CONCERT-X, where students could literally sign up to have a performance in Jordan Hall in october or november each year. It's a shame that they don't do that anymore, but everything changes, and that's the way of the world.   

I think we worked best in trio settings, but I remember playing alot of duo things in the practice room. We almost always played on two pianos, though Sean was most often heard on guitar. I really love Sean's piano playing. 

Two trios I remember very well are those we did with Derek Beckvold (3 performances), and Richard Saunders (2 performances). You can find a couple of them them below. One is from my Senior recital. Sean now lives in Brooklyn, but he was still in Boston at the time. Both of these performances were hastily prepared, but I think that's how we work best. We'd done Hello Old Friend  with Derek once before (the previous semester), and Busway Song was initially a duo from Hankus Netsky's Songwriting workshop. I didn't feel comfortable singing it again, and Sean was catching a cold. We tracked down Richard, and he sang it for this performance (on a Tuesday Night New Music in Brown Hall). 

"Hello Old Friend" (2010) with Derek Beckvold

"Busway Song" (2008) with Richard Saunders

Sean Graduated in 2009 (a year before me), and moved to NY in 2011. I most recently visited him there in September, and we played a couple sets at Goodbye Blue Monday over the summer. He does alot of solo work, plays with a few different bands, and has a duo with his brother Griffin (an organ major at Juilliard). The people here in Burlington operate in a sort of similar way as Sean, and perhaps me writing this post right now (at 2AM with a huge mug of tea) is my way of expressing that I will visit him again soon, or that he should visit us up north.

Sean at Goodbye Blue Monday (Bushwick) in June 2012