Biography
Mary Ann McSweeney Bassist/Composer/Arranger/Educator
Born in Aptos, California, Mary Ann McSweeney started playing piano at the age of 5, and began to study violin at age 8. In high school, she fell in love with the acoustic bass while watching Ray Brown perform at the Concord Jazz Festival. At age 16, she was chosen to play at the Monterey Jazz Festival with the All-Star band fronted by Thad Jones and Mel Lewis.
McSweeney has played with jazz legends Dizzy Gillespie, Joanne Brackeen, Lee Konitz, Gil Goldstein, and Bucky Pizzarelli. She has also played for renowned conductors, Leonard Bernstein, Lalo Schifrin, and John Williams. McSweeney has performed with Renee Rosnes, Vic Juris, Ken Peplowski, Dennis Mackrel, Lewis Nash, Ken Peplowski, Randy Sandke, Holly Hoffman, Chuck Redd, Mike Wofford and Larry Goldings.
She has performed with her own quintet at the Seixal Jazz Festival in Portugal, and the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival at the Kennedy Center. McSweeney has toured with David Krakauer’s Klezmer Madness and six-time Tony award winning vocalist Audra McDonald. She has performed in New York and Greece with her Urban Fado Project, and performed a live recording at the Shapeshifter Lab in Brooklyn New York, after receiving a grant from Creative Capital.
Her orchestrations can be heard on Chita Rivera’s CD entitled “Now I Swing” and her version of “Avenue Q Swings” is available on iTunes. She has arranged for and recorded with Warner Brothers artist, Lea Delaria. McSweeney’s original music can be heard on the documentary “From Allegiance to Broadway” and on a number of short films. She was commissioned to write music for three children’s musicals for the Bronx Art Ensemble and which were performed by the Lehman Children’s Theater. Recently, she composed music for an original musical titled “Snip Happens” in collaboration with book writer and lyricist, Jennie Fahn.
Along with being a full-time professional bassist in New York City, McSweeney was on the faculty for the Middle School Jazz Academy at Lincoln Center for 12 years.
She performed at the White House (with President Obama in attendance) with the Eli Yamin Quintet and the Kennedy Center Gala with the Clayton/Hamilton Orchestra. She was musical director/arranger for three shows at NYC’s Birdland Jazz Club featuring Jane Monheit, in a program that included selections from Irving Berlin and the Cole Porter musical, “Anything Goes.” McSweeney has played more than 50 Broadway shows, including Tony award-winning “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder” and “Some Like it Hot,” which won a Grammy award for best musical cast album. She recorded and performed for the Tony-nominated show “Girl from the North Country” featuring arrangements of Bob Dylan songs.
Recent engagements include the first Lulu Festival East (featuring her Urban Fado Band) and is co-leading a band with guitarist Sheryl Bailey which has released “Taurus Power,” featuring saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi. She has recently led the “McSweeney Plays Mingus” project featuring Grammy-nominated pianist Elio Villafranca.