About Sean Malone

Sean Malone (born in Delran, New Jersey) is an American bass player. He is also a proficient player on Chapman stick. He achieved success in young age with a pioneering metal band Cynic from Florida. What set him apart early on from other metal bassists are his fusion/jazz influenced basslines. In the academic field, Malone has papers on theory and music cognition published and given presentations at conferences such as the Society for Music Theory, The International Conference of Music and Gesture, and The Glenn Gould Conference, and has taught at the University of Central Missouri as assistant professor of music theory, and at Carnegie Mellon University. Sean's work over the years has spanned enormous sonic breadth. He has played as a session member for groups ranging from Brazilian jazz to English pop. He was the recording/touring bassist for Floridian technical metal unit Cynic during their Focus period. Sean has continued as a studio bassist, performing on over fifty records to date. Throughout all this, he has authored three books--Dictionary Of Bass Grooves, A Portrait of Jaco: The Solos Collection and Music Theory for Bassists--for the Hal Leonard Corporation. Sean's work in the academic world; has had papers on theory and music cognition published, and given presentations at prestigious conferences such as the Society for Music Theory and The Glenn Gould Conference. He also assembled and recorded the self-titled Gordian Knot debut amidst all this activity. That record, released in 1998, saw Sean team up with luminaries like Sean Reinert (Cynic), Trey Gunn (King Crimson), Ron Jarzombek (Watchtower, Spastic Ink) and John Myung (Dream Theater). He also authored a book of transcriptions of Jaco Pastorius bass solos.