Personnel Bio

MUC Sean Nelson
Chief Musician Sean Nelson, trombone, joined the United States Coast Guard Band in 2011 and serves as the Group Leader for both the Guardians Big Band and the Beacons Jazz Ensemble, and plays trombone for the full Coast Guard Band and the Traditional Jazz Band.

In 2023, MUC Nelson served as music director and arranger for the National Christmas Tree Lighting, leading the Guardians Big Band and collaborating with guest musicians including Joe Walsh, Dionne Warwick, and Samara Joy. This program, performed at the White House Ellipse, was broadcast on CBS for over 4 million viewers. MUC Nelson wrote over 400 pages of music for this program. Walsh said of the Guardians Big Band that “Y’all got some good notes!”

In addition to playing trombone, MUC Nelson serves as the staff arranger for the Coast Guard Band. In 2022, he co-composed the official service song of the US Space Force, “Semper Supra”, and a copy of the sheet music spent six months aboard the Internation Space Station with a Space Force astronaut. In 2016, MUC Nelson composed the official service song "Into the Oceans and the Air" for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Commissioned Officer Corps, one of our nation's eight uniformed services, making him the only person to have composed two uniformed service songs.

MUC Nelson resides in Quaker Hill, Connecticut, with his wife Megan and children Lucinda, Giles, McCoy, and Cabell.