Sean Lyons

Born and raised in Boston, Seán 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, Seán 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, Seán 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, Seán 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, Seán 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, Seán 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, Seán 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. Seán 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 Seán has worked with are: Lew Tabackin, Victor Lewis, Kenny Drew Jr., Joey Calderazzo, Brian Lynch, Geoff Keezer, Mike LeDonne,
Herb Pomeroy, Bernard Purdie, Benny Powell, Carl Allen, George Garzone, Rachel Z, Gray Sargent, Gabe Baltazar, Greg Hopkins, Jimmy Owens, Joe Farnsworth,
Eddie Locke, James Genus, Joe Cohn, Kenny Davis, Emil Richards, and Cecil Bridgewater.
Seán 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 Seán Lyons' adventurous career path, you will certainly be moved by his dynamic energy, electrifying musicianship, and his deep emotional expression through jazz.