Behind Beyond
Beyond was first created by Sean Applebee not as a group, but a way of living life. It is a meditation on what the true limits of music are and how the spontaneity of the moment can allow magic to be shared between the audience and the musicians. Growing up enjoying music from many different genres, Sean realized that despite their differences, each style was really the same deep down. Whether it was swing, funk, hip hop, mambo, or blues, each style of music was meant to be an authentic representation of the artist and their community. Each style exists as a space for the community to relax and have fun and for the artist to try and teach them something new about life. It is an interactive experience where the energy of everyone involved comes together to produce something far greater than any individual. The magic that arises in live performance takes people Beyond who they are and expands their horizons. This is the purpose of Beyond: to unify musicians and audiences alike in space that allows them to ascend past their limitations and appreciate the beauty of creativity.
Sean Applebee
After playing the blues for the first time in his Middle School Jazz band, Sean was in awe at the sensation of spiritual healing which he had never experienced before. From this moment forward, Sean sought to learn everything he could about what he had experienced, however he still struggled to find an answer.
Eventually, Sean met world renowned trumpeter Brad Goode at University of Colorado Boulder’s Summer Jazz Camp when he was seventeen. For the first time, Sean not only heard music, he felt it. The sheer amount of intention and spirituality that each musician put into their playing brought Sean so much joy, that he could not stop singing every song after each performance. The music brought a whole new dimension of color and wonder to his life beyond anything experiments and calculations could quantify.
The curiosity sparked within him that week led to one spiritual experience after another. The following Summer, Sean met the world-renowned trumpeter Greg Gisbert at a Summer Big Band workshop in Denver. Greg nurtured Sean’s enthusiasm and curiosity, showing him the fundamentals of jazz trumpet allowing Sean to successfully audition for a degree in Jazz Performance at University of Colorado Boulder’s Thompson Jazz Studies Program. This pushed Sean’s knowledge of music to its limits however, this was not the only life changing experience that would occur that Summer.
Sean’s scientific background played a huge role in how he approached the trumpet. He was constantly testing new equipment to see how he could push the instrument to its limits leading to the discovery of Harrelson Trumpets. After a few years of playing their equipment, Sean interviewed for a position at Harrelson and started working there when he was nineteen. The founder, Jason Harrelson, had researched the entire history of the trumpet in the pursuit of unifying science and music to create instruments that were comfortable and easy to play while possessing the flexibility to create any sound. Jason’s dedication to music and science united Sean’s two worlds into one beautiful masterpiece. Sean realized that the unification of science and music creates a unique balance of knowledge and spirituality which has the capacity to give people the power to change their lives for the better.
Sean is now dedicated to learning as much as he can in order to play music that touches people’s souls so that he can heal the world one person at a time.