Man No Longer Me

"Independence might be the ruling concept of this drummer/leader’s career. It defines a common relationship not only among his hands, feet, and voice, but between his art and almost everything else in drumland". Modern Drummer Magazine

"Imagine a head on collision between Swell Maps, Gong, the Residents, the Magic Band and the Modern Lovers. Freeform jazzy struts, too many notes; outrageous, dayglo sonic curlicues."

Richard Foster Louder Than War

"The drummer and composer Sean Noonan approaches postmodern jazz and world music from the same angle of self-discovery ....he manages to make his pieces speak coherently, and in a unified voice." The New York Times

New York Rhythmic Storyteller Sean Noonan composes and conducts with a pair of drum sticks original multi-stylistic modern jazz-rock avant-garde chamber music. He sees himself as a modern-day sonic griot (storyteller), wandering the globe gathering stories, legends, and folklore like a punk-jazz Alan Lomax. The treasures that he finds along the way are filtered through his distinctive vision to become the unpredictable. The far-ranging sounds of Noonan’s wide-spectrum music combines the loquacity of an Irish bard, the narrative rhythms of Samuel Beckett, and the raw physicality of a street-smart boxer.

The September 30th debut Haldern Pop Label release “Man No Longer Me”, is about the transformation of a man who get tickled by a sunbeam one morning on a mountain top, and who, as the story progresses, wanders and gets lost in a desert and transforms into a coyote. The album is a collection of songs that captures the elusiveness of ever-evolving world music traditions and reorients them through Noonan’s own distinctive lens, fusing his discoveries with influences from harmolodic jazz, bleeding-edge rock, and avant-garde classical music.

At the Ai Confini tra Sardegna e Jazz Festival in Sardinia in September 2016, Noonan premiered his Rock Opera “Zappanation”, a 13 piece ensemble inspired by the music of Frank Zappa and Edgard Varèse. Tracks 3,6,7 and 8 on “Man No Longer Me” are from the “Zappanation” Rock Opera and also features a stylistically diverse lineup of musicians like the London based Ligeti String Quartet, Norbert Buerger, a Bavarian cabaret rock guitarist, and Corocum, a 4 piece mixed Sardinia Choir, to name just a few. Tracks 2,4,5 and 10 could be described as if Captain Beefheart, John Zorn, Lou Reed, Bela Bartok and Frank Zappa were out on a night of romance in quest of a good street fight.

Sean Noonan producer, drummer, composer, vocals

Johnny Richards keyboards

Michael Bardon bass

Norbert Buerger guitar

Mandhira De Saram violin (track 3,6,7,8)

Patrick Dawkins violin (track 3,6,7,8)

Richard Jones viola (track 3,6,7,8)

Valerie Welbanks cello (track 3,6,7,8)

Manuel Cossu baritone (track 3,6,7,8)

Matteo Siddi tenor (track 3,6,7,8)

Marta Melis alto (track 3,6,7,8)

Alice Madeddu soprano (track 3,6,7,8)

Adam Roszkowski violin (track 4,5,9)

Jan Roszkowski cello (track 4,5,9)

Maciej Afanasjew violin (track 4,5,9)

Adam Debski viola (track 4,5,9)

Harry Saltzman sax

Robert Alonso trumpet

Roman Sladek trombone

Sean Hargreaves co-producer

Samuele Dessi vocal tracking

Rikky Damian string tracking

Michal Kupicz mixing

Graemme Brown mastering

Dirk Eusterbrock photography

April Townes special effects makeup