Paul Sullivan
Bangor, Maine, United States | INDIE | AFM
Music
Press
"Adjectives don't come good enough for Paul Sullivan... He's an exquisite musician and just one of the nicest people you'll ever meet"
- Paul Winter Consort
"Adjectives don't come good enough for Paul Sullivan... He's an exquisite musician and just one of the nicest people you'll ever meet"
- Paul Winter Consort
"Sullivan plays with brilliance and clarity" - NY Times
"Sullivan plays with brilliance and clarity" - NY Times
"The high point of the concert came in the person of Paul Sullivan who moved the audience to a standing ovation with selections from his recording Sketches of Maine. He combines seeds from Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, even Bach, that are not derivative from their music, but rather a flight suggesting their individual styles laced with sexy jazz commentaries. His work is soaring, powerfully emotional, yet even lighthearted in a long journey" - Ellsworth American
"The high point of the concert came in the person of Paul Sullivan who moved the audience to a standing ovation with selections from his recording Sketches of Maine. He combines seeds from Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, even Bach, that are not derivative from their music, but rather a flight suggesting their individual styles laced with sexy jazz commentaries. His work is soaring, powerfully emotional, yet even lighthearted in a long journey" - Ellsworth American
"Paul Sullivan's astounding and energetic piano solos brought the audience to the edge of their seats" - Bar Harbor, Maine
"Paul Sullivan's astounding and energetic piano solos brought the audience to the edge of their seats" - Bar Harbor, Maine
"Paul Sullivan entranced us with a 90 minute performance of his lively persuasive piano solos that are, thankfully, too robustly vibrant to be categorized as New Age" - Klamath Falls Herald and News
If "serious" composers were writing melodies as evocative as this, the piano recital just might regain a little popularity!" - Newark New Jersey
"Paul Sullivan entranced us with a 90 minute performance of his lively persuasive piano solos that are, thankfully, too robustly vibrant to be categorized as New Age" - Klamath Falls Herald and News
"Sullivan's tone is clear, his touch is elegant, and his sense of melody is impeccable" - Composer and Pianist
"Sullivan's music is a rare combination of the classical and easy listening styles and a fine illustration of how a gifted performer/composer can create a musical language that is both simple and magnificent at the same time" - Frederickton Daly Gleaner
"Sullivan's tone is clear, his touch is elegant, and his sense of melody is impeccable" - Composer and Pianist
"The music seems to have a timelessness, and it is all memorable" - Ontario, Canada
"The music seems to have a timelessness, and it is all memorable" - Ontario, Canada
Discography
CDs:
PS Jazz Breakaway
My Irish Soul
Sketches of Maine
A Visit to the Rockies
Folk Art
Nights in the Gardens of Maine
Christmas in Maine
Paul Sullivan Collection
Circle Round The Seasons
50's Slow Dance
More 50's Slow Dances
60's Sweet and Bittersweet
Slow Sweet Swing
Yuletide
Photos
Bio
Grammy Award winner Paul Sullivan has enjoyed a richly varied and distinguished career as a composer and a pianist.
As a soloist, with his trio, and as a member of the Paul Winter Consort, he has played concert tours in most of the United States and Europe, as well as Croatia, Israel, Costa Rica, and Japan. He has performed among the dunes of the Negev Desert, in Leonard Bernstein’s living room, and on the stages of many of the world’s finest concert halls. He has also performed with some legendary orchestras, such as the Philadelphia Orchestra under Eugene Ormandy, the Boston Pops under both Arthur Fiedler and Keith Lockhardt, and several regional orchestras around the US.
As a jazz player he has worked in some of New York’s most prestigious clubs, including Sweet Basil, The Village Vanguard, and Bradley's. He has played with a wide variety of jazz masters from Benny Goodman to Tommy Flanagan, as well as Red Mitchell, Lou Donaldson, George Mraz, Gerry Hemingway, Marc Helias, Gene Bertoncini, Luciana Sousa, Cafe, Jane Ira Bloom, Pheeroan AkLaff, Eddie Daniels, Richard Stoltzman, Nana Vasconcelos, Glen Velez and many other luminaries. His 15 CDs have sold over 300 thousand copies and have won 3 Indie Awards. He His music has been broadcast internationally, as well as on all the major American networks, including National Public Radio. He received a Grammy Award for his work on the Paul Winter Consort CD, Silver Solstice.
Most recently, he completed his first choral work. This was commissioned by the Bagaduce Chorale of Blue Hill Maine.
In the theater Sullivan has worked as a musical director, pianist, and conductor for many Off-Broadway and Broadway shows. He played keyboards and shared the conducting duties for the original production of the musical Nine, which won a Tony Award for Best Musical.
Sullivan has also worked extensively in the dance world, playing piano for Merce Cunningham’s classes, and writing music for the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall. He has also enjoyed a long friendship with the Pilobolus Dance Theater, for whom he has written over 15 scores.
In his solo performances, he creates a relaxed and intimate feeling with his audience through his pleasant and quirky observations about music and life. His warm and inviting personality, coupled with his world-class musicianship, wins over new listeners immediately and usually makes them life-long fans.
Education
Sullivan grew up in Boston and got his first professional training at the St. Paul Choir School in Cambridge with Theodore Marier and John Dunn. He went on to Phillips Exeter Academy and from there to Yale, where he received his BA in music in 1977. He also created and taught a course at Yale in Electronic Music.
He and his family live on the coast of Maine.
Links
