Chicago, IL born, raised in Pittsburgh, PA, Artisan Bassist Christopher Dean Sullivan is a renowned highly versed bassist of many musical languages: Jazz, Funk, Reggae, Latin, Fusion, Caribbean, Indian, African, and Eurocentric perceptions, rock, country, and more. Chris is well traveled throughout the US, the Caribbean Islands and Europe. He has shared the stage with Stanley Jordan, Pete Seeger, Archie Shepp, Charli Persip, Yusef Lateef, Judi Silvano, Grant Green, Horace Parlan, Della Griffin, Joe McPhee, Sonny Simmons, Irene Reed, Cecil Payne, Joe Lovano, Roy Campbell Jr., Lillie Bryant-Howard, Charles Gayle, Pucho and the Latin Soul Brothers, to name a few, and led his own ensembles within the U.S. and abroad which opened for such national commercial acts as The Barkays, Ohio Players, New Birth, The Trinairs, The Moments and Sam and Dave. Chris Sullivan can be heard on various records and CDs from jazz and blues to acoustic folk, funk and gospel. His discography includes Live in New York (Black Saint / Soul Note) with reedist Michael Marcus and drummer Codaryl Cody Moffett, Language of Swans (Drimala) with reedist Joe Giardullo and soundrhythium Michael T.A. Thompson, Under the Moon (A440 Music Group) with Barbara Sfraga, Paul Wertico, John McLean, Kevin Patrick, Stepping Around the Giant (C.I.M.P./Cadence) with Carl Grubbs, Odean Pope and Newman Taylor Baker, Word Riffs with poet Golda Solomon, Timelessness Frozen in Time (SyncTimiCity) - a collaborative project featuring Barbara Sfraga, Michael T.A. Thompson, Mala Waldron and Allen Won, A Mother's Heart - a voice and bass rendition with Sheila Jordan of the Bobby Timmons/Oscar Brown Jr. tune "Dat Dere" for the (Sound Visions Media Group) compilation release, Alan Glover Cool Fire (Omolade Music), Alan Glover The Blue Shift (Olmolade Music), Rituals from the marrow: Recipe for a jam session with Poet E. J. Antonio; this particular release also has a featured track where Christian McBride and Christopher Dean Sullivan are performing together on the first track.
In July 2008 Christopher Dean Sullivan is the last bassist to have recorded with Freddie Hubbard before the master trumpeter’s passing in 2008. Produced by alto saxophonist Floyde King for Freddie, with Jeff “Tain” Watts, Laura Kahley, Mamoru Takahashi, Noriko Kamo, Hideo Kitawga and Tom Baker. Chris Sullivan also performs with the Cotton Club All Star Orchestra and has toured with various 50's/60's groups: the Marcel's, The Drifters, Sharelles and many others. Also an actor, Chris can be seen in the movie Dawn of the Dead, as well as TV commercials and magazines (most notably a Vanity Fair photo shoot with Janet Jackson by Annie Leibowitz.) He worked with The Jazz Workshop, in Pittsburgh, PA, under the direction of saxophonist Harold Young where Chris Sullivan produced and hosted his own Warner Communication award winning television show The Tree of Arts Alive where he produced performances and conducted interviews with Max Roach, Roger Humphries, Chic Corea, Stanley Clark, George Duke, Robert Bell ( Kool and the Gang), Patrice Rushen, Larry McGee, The Whispers, Chaka Chan, Lenny White, The Pittsburgh Repertory Theater, Betty Carter, to name a few. In recent years, Chris Sullivan has received various community and arts services, municipal, congressional and Senate Proclamation awards, as well as, the 2010 Orange County Council of the Arts of New York State – Champion For The Arts Award.

Christopher Dean Sullivan's approach is heartfelt and is accessed first of all by intensive listening -- to himself, to the elemental structure of a tune, to the soul of his fellow musicians, and to his own quest for the purest, more direct expression of sound and feeling, and is a prime advocate for perpetuating entertainment into the Jazz Perfomance...