Trumpet player and composer Sean Hennessey’s career is a dynamic blend of musical styles and genres, often shifting from one role to the next with ease.
In one instance, Hennessey is writing and performing original compositions for his jazz sextet, The Hennessy 6, which features top-tier musicians from prestigious military bands, including the Air Force Academy’s Falconaires. In another, he’s playing with and composing for the Denver Brass, a renowned brass chamber ensemble.
“People know me as a jazz trumpet player. I don’t often get the chance to perform solo classical music, but I really enjoy it,” Hennessey said. “The challenge is that when people see you in groups like Denver Brass, they assume you only do one thing. But musically, I’m passionate about exploring a wide range of styles.”
One of those passions includes composing music for film soundtracks, particularly for documentaries and indie films. A surprising niche Hennessey discovered early in his career was scoring horror film documentaries. His first major project in this genre was 2010’s Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy, a deep dive into the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise.
“Horror isn’t even my favorite genre—I get scared by horror films myself,” Hennessey admitted. “But they called me up, saying their original composer had dropped out, and they needed someone who could step in with two weeks’ notice to score a five-hour documentary. I was already working on another feature, but when you’re young, you think you can do impossible things.”
Since then, Hennessey has composed music for nearly 10 horror documentaries, including Doc of Chucky, which chronicles the Child’s Play franchise and was released this month on AMC’s Shudder streaming platform. Another of his horror docs, Pennywise: The Story of It, topped iTunes’ documentary charts in 2021, where it stayed for several weeks.
“He’s incredibly thoughtful and brings a lot of unique ideas to the table,” said director Richard Van Kleeck, who has hired Hennessey to score three of his documentaries, including Fleeting Reality, which aired this month on PBS. The documentary follows the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographers of the Louisville Courier-Journal.
Van Kleeck shared, “Every time we got a new chapter from Sean, it felt like Christmas morning—exciting to see what he had created. His music really brought the emotional depth of the story to life.”
Hennessey continues to thrive in his varied musical pursuits, blending his love for jazz, classical music, and film scoring in a way that showcases his versatility and creative range.
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