Sean McGowan

seanmcgowanguitar.com

Sean McGowan is a jazz guitarist who combines many diverse musical influences with unconventional techniques to create a broad palette of textures within his compositions and arrangements for solo guitar. His first recording River Coffee won the Best Independent Release of the Year Award (2002) from Acoustic Guitar magazine and music from the recording has been published in Japan’s Acoustic Guitar magazine and Mel Bay’s Master Anthology of Fingerstyle Guitar, Vol. 3 (2005). His subsequent recordings Indigo (2008) and Sphere: The Music of Thelonious Monk (2011) offer compelling portraits of classic jazz standards performed on solo electric archtop guitar. Sphere was named one of Acoustic Guitar magazine’s "Essential Albums of 2011", and Sean was featured on the cover of Fingerstyle 360 magazine (Summer 2012). His solo guitar recordings include Thanksgiving & Christmas Tidings (2014) a collection of seasonal hymns and carols arranged for acoustic guitar, and My Fair Lady (2015) featuring songs from Lerner & Loewe’s masterpiece.

Sean is an avid arts educator and currently serves as an Associate Professor of Music at the University of Colorado Denver. He earned a DMA in Guitar Performance from the University of Southern California and has conducted workshops at colleges and guitar organizations throughout the country. He has presented and performed at the Jazz Education Network conference in New Orleans, the International Symposium for the Performing Arts Medicine Association in Aspen and numerous College Music Society national and regional conferences. Sean advocates for injury prevention and health education for musicians and his workshops incorporate a holistic approach to playing. He is a contributing editor and educational advisor for Acoustic Guitar magazine and the author of Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Solos (Hal Leonard) and the String Letter book/video instruction methods The Acoustic Jazz Guitarist, Fingerstyle Jazz Guitar Essentials, and Holiday Songs for Fingerstyle Guitar.

As a soloist, Sean has performed at festivals including the Novi Sad International Jazz Festival in Serbia, the Healdsburg Guitar Festival in Napa Valley, Copper Mountain Guitar Town, the La Conner Guitar Festival, the Chet Atkins CAAS Convention and the Artisan Guitar Show with Jimmy Bruno and Brent Mason. He has also collaborated with dance and improv companies

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