STEVE SWALLOW
Steve Swallow was born in New York City in
1940, and spent his childhood in Fair Lawn, New Jersey. Before turning to
the acoustic bass at age 14, he studied piano (with Howard Kasschau, who also
taught Nelson Riddle) and trumpet. His otherwise miserable adolescence
was brightened by his discovery of jazz. He took many of his first stabs
at improvisation with Ian Underwood (who subsequently became a Mother Of
Invention and an L.A. studio ace), with whom he attended a swank New England private
school.
During his years at Yale University he studied composition with
Donald Martino, and played dixieland with many of the greats, among them Pee
Wee Russell, Buck Clayton and Vic Dickenson. In 1960 he met Paul and
Carla Bley, left Yale in a hurry, moved to New York City, and began to tour and
record with Paul Bley, The Jimmy Giuffre Trio and George Russell’s sextet,
which featured Eric Dolphy and Thad Jones. He also performed in the early
‘60s with Joao Gilberto, Sheila Jordan, and bands led by Benny Goodman, Marian
McPartland, Chico Hamilton, Al Cohn and Zoot Sims, Clark Terry and Bob
Brookmeyer, and Chick Corea.
In 1964 he joined the Art Farmer Quartet featuring Jim Hall, and
began writing music. Many of his songs have been recorded by prominent
jazz artists, including Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Stan Getz, Gary Burton, Art
Farmer, Phil Woods, Jack DeJohnette, Steve Kuhn, Lyle Mays, Jim Hall and Pat
Metheny. And he was sampled by A Tribe Called Quest.
He toured from late 1965 through 1967 with the Stan Getz Quartet,
which also included Gary Burton (replaced in 1967 by Chick Corea) and Roy
Haynes. In 1968 he left Getz to join Gary Burton’s quartet, an
association he maintained, with occasional time off for good behavior, for 20
years. He has performed on more than 20 of Burton’s recordings, the most
recent being Six Pack, released in 1992.
In 1970 he switched from acoustic to electric bass and moved to
Bolinas, California, where he wrote music for Hotel Hello, a duet album
for ECM with Gary Burton. Returning to the East Coast in 1974, he taught
for two long years at the Berklee College of Music. In 1976 he was
awarded a National Endowment For The Arts grant to set poems by Robert Creeley
to music, which resulted in another ECM album, Home. He performed
with such diverse artists as Dizzy Gillespie, Michael Brecker, George Benson
and Herbie Hancock, and recorded with Stan Getz (on an album featuring Joao
Gilberto), Bob Moses, Steve Lacy, Michael Mantler and Kip Hanrahan. He
also played on recordings produced by Hal Willner, on tracks featuring, among
others, Carla Bley, Dr. John and James Taylor.
In 1978 he joined the Carla Bley Band. He continues to
perform and record with her extensively, in various contexts.
He toured and recorded often with John Scofield from 1980 to 1984,
first in trio with drummer Adam Nussbaum, and then in duet. He has since
toured often with Scofield, and has also produced several of his recordings.
He has also co-produced many albums with Carla Bley for her record
companies WATT and XtraWATT, including Night-Glo (1985), which she wrote
to feature him, and Carla (1987), a collection of his songs
featuring her. In 1987 he also produced the first of four albums for the
British saxophonist Andy Sheppard. In the ensuing years he produced
recordings for Karen Mantler, Lew Soloff and Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, and
recorded and/or toured with, among others, Joe Lovano, Motohiko Hino, Ernie
Watts, Michael Gibbs, Rabih Abou-Khalil, Paul Bley, Henri Texier and Allen
Ginsberg.
In 1988 he and Carla Bley began performing duet concerts in
Europe, the United States, South America and Japan. Duets, an
album of their songs arranged for piano and bass, was released in 1988, and a
second recording, Go Together, in 1993.
In December of 1989 he reunited, after 27 years, with Jimmy
Giuffre and Paul Bley to record two discs for Owl Records entitled The Life
Of A Trio. This trio toured frequently until Spring of 1995, and
recorded for Owl and Soul Note Records.
In 1991 he composed and produced Swallow, an XtraWATT
recording featuring his five-string bass and several of his longtime
associates, including Gary Burton, John Scofield and Steve Kuhn.
He recorded often in the nineties. John Scofield and Pat
Metheny’s I Can See Your House From Here, on which he played with
drummer Bill Stewart, was released on Blue Note Records; this quartet toured in
the summer of 1994. Real Book, his third XtraWATT disc, was
recorded in December of 1993 and released in 1994; its cast included Tom
Harrell, Joe Lovano, Mulgrew Miller and Jack DeJohnette.
In Spring of 1994 he was featured at the London Jazz Festival in a
concert of his compositions with lyrics written and sung by Norma
Winstone. 1994 also contained concert appearances in Japan with Steve
Kuhn and in Europe with The Very Big Carla Bley Band, Jimmy Giuffre and Paul
Bley, The Paul Motian Electric BeBop Band, Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, and
Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard. A live recording of this trio, Songs
With Legs, was released on WATT in early 1995, at which time they again
toured Europe. He also recorded in Spring of 1995 with Steve Kuhn,
Michael Franks, John Taylor, Pierre Favre and Julian Arguelles. In July
he and Carla Bley performed duets in Brazil, and in the fall returned to Europe
for a lengthy tour.
In Spring of 1996 he found himself again touring Europe, first
with Bley and Sheppard and then with John Scofield and Bill Stewart. He
subsequently co-produced and played on Scofield’s first album for Verve
Records, Quiet. He also co-produced and played on The Carla
Bley Big Band Goes To Church, recorded live at Umbria Jazz in Perugia,
Italy, and toured and recorded with Paul Motian.
In November of ‘96 he introduced the Steve Swallow Quintet, with
Chris Potter, Ryan Kisor (subsequently replaced by Barry Ries), Mick Goodrick
and Adam Nussbaum, to audiences in Europe, and recorded with this group after
its tour. The resulting album, Deconstructed, features his
compositions based on classic Tin Pan Alley song structures; it was released in
early 1997.
He toured relentlessly in 1997 with Trio 2000 (with Paul Motian
and Chris Potter), Carla Bley, John Scofield and several others, and recorded
with several diverse artists, including Henri Texier (with Lee Konitz and Bob
Brookmeyer), Glen Moore, Ettore Fioravanti and Michel Portal. He also
produced the first of two recording by French drummer/composer Christophe
Marguet.
In the Spring of 1998 he toured and recorded with Lee Konitz and Paul
Motian, and toured with Brazilian guitarist Paulo Bellinati. He also
participated with Carla Bley in the Copenhagen Jazzvisits program, and was
nominated for the 1999 Danish Jazzpar. In April he directed and performed
his music for big band with the Harvard University Jazz Band, and in June
recorded with pianist Christian Jacob. In July he participated in a tour
presenting the concert version of Carla Bley’s Escalator Over The Hill,
and toured in trio with Lee Konitz and Paul Bley. He toured in the Fall
with Paul Motian’s Electric BeBop Band, and with John Scofield and Bill
Stewart. He also performed in duo with Carla Bley, which resulted in a
third Duets CD entitled Are We There Yet?
In March and April of 1999 he toured again with his quintet.
Reviewing the band’s performance at Ronnie Scott’s Club in the Times of London,
Chris Parker wrote “...this was as near a perfect display of small-group jazz -
robust yet exquisitely poised, cogent but surprisingly delicate - as has been
heard in London in recent years.” An XtraWATT CD entitled Always Pack
Your Uniform On Top, recorded live at Ronnie’s, was released shortly
thereafter.
2000 proceeded apace. After a return to Tokyo with Carla
Bley, this time performing Fancy Chamber Music, and to Sao Paulo performing
Duets, he roamed Europe again with Paulo Bellinati. European
festival-goers found him with Bobby Previte in July, and with John Scofield in
August. In September he reunited with Lee Konitz and Paul Bley for
appearances in the USA, and then returned to Europe for further tours with
Bobby Previte and Carla Bley.
2001 proved adventurous. After a Spring Trios tour with
Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard, he toured and recorded with Gerard Marais in
France, recorded with Michael Gibbs (with a band of elite studio sharks)
in New York City, with Bobby Previte (with Ray Anderson, Wayne Horvitz and
Marty Ehrlich) in rustic Pennsylvania, and with Wolfi Puschnig (with
Victor Lewis and Don Alias) in industrial Hoboken. In the Fall he also
recorded with Akira Ishii, Arrigo Cappilletti, Maria Pia DeVito and Giovanni
Mazzarino, and toured with Scofield, Bley and Previte. The year thundered
to a conclusion with a triumphant tour and live recording by Damaged In
Transit, Swallow’s trio featuring Chris Potter and Adam Nussbaum. An
XtraWATT CD followed soon after.
2002 yielded further excitement. After the customary Spring
Trios tour, Swallow directed the Bohuslan Big Band, based in Goteborg, Sweden,
in performances of his compositions and arrangements, and then toured
Scandinavia with Jonas Johansen and Hans Ulrik. After another Bobby
Previte tour and work with Maria Pia DeVito, he barnstormed the summer festival
circuit with Carla Bley’s big band. In the waning days of summer he
participated in the recording of L’Histoire Du Clochard, a
Palmetto Records CD featuring arrangements by Ohad Talmor of his music.
He then returned to Europe for performances with John Taylor and with
Wolfi Puschnig, and toured the USA with Bobby Previte. After a quick trip
to Korea for a one-nighter with Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard, he returned to
Europe for the year’s breathless finish, with singer Antonio Placer and Paulo
Bellinati.
The pace hardly slackened in 2003, which began with Eurotours with
Bobby Previte, Gerard Marais, Antonio Placer and in duo with Paulo
Bellinati. Swallow returned home in June to do his laundry and to pick up
Carla, with whom he ventured to Porto, Portugal, for a memorable big band
concert in a magnificent Rem Koolhaas concert hall, at the time still under
construction. Carla’s big band then toured briefly in the USA.
Swallow worked often during the second half of the year with John Scofield and
Bill Stewart, detouring in September to play with Ulrik and Johansen. The
Fall also saw the birth of Carla Bley’s new quartet, The Lost Chords; drummer
Billy Drummond joined Bley, Sheppard and Swallow. The band toured and
recorded an eponymous album in November. A December engagement at
the Blue Note in New York City with Scofield and Stewart also yielded a live
album, En Route.
A trio tour with We Three, a cooperative band with Dave Liebman
and Adam Nussbaum, began the 2004 season. Yet another tour with Bobby
Previte followed, and gave way to work with Nussbaum and pianist Giovanni Mazzerino.
This summer’s traditional European festival dance was performed with Scofield
and Stewart. Kip Hanrahan called, and Swallow found himself in a trendy
SoHo studio in August with a roomful of great drummers and
percussionists. September was spent in the company of Scofield and
Stewart. After yet another round with Ulrik and Johansen (this trio had
come to be called Tin Pan Aliens), and a brief stint with Puschnig, a Lost
Chords tour wrapped up the year.
Spring of 2005 was spent once again in the company of Scofield and
Stewart. In August Swallow, his old friend Steve Kuhn and the Cikada
Quartet recorded music written by the bassist to poems written and read by
Robert Creeley. The album, titled So There, was released in
November 2006. In a review of it in the New York Times, Ben Ratliff said “It’s
a record with a soul, remarkably curious and thoughtful, and it gets you
thinking about what kinds of things stimulate music.” September of 2005
was spent with the Lost Chords, October with Antonio Placer and Ohad Talmor,
and November with Scofield. He also recorded in duet with pianist Deidre
Rodman for Sunnyside Records.
2006 began with a We Three tour, and proceeded to projects with
Scofield and Bley. In June Swallow reunited with Gary Burton and Pat
Metheny (with drummer Antonio Sanchez) for concerts in Japan and the USA, which
were recorded for future release. He spent the summer happily with Carla
Bley, in a variety of contexts which included a big band tour of the European
festivals. He also repaired to Ludwigsburg, Germany to record with Kenny
Wheeler and John Taylor. September was spent touring and recording with
the Scofield trio, October with Tin Pan Aliens and again with Scofield, and
November with Ohad Talmor. The year ended with a joyous concert of
Christmas carols directed by Carla Bley.
Look for the intrepid bassist in 2007 in many of the usual places:
on tour with the Scofield trio, with Carla Bley’s The Lost Chords Find Paolo
Fresu, with We Three and with the Michael Gibbs big band. He also plans
to record an album of his music in Goteborg, with the Bohuslan Big Band.
Steve Swallow placed first (electric bass) in the Downbeat
International Critics Poll from 1983, and in the Downbeat Readers Poll from
1985, until 2004, when the category mysteriously disappeared from the
polls. He has also won the Jazz Times poll (electric bass) for the past
several years, and has been voted the Jazz Journalists Association's electric
bassist of the year since 2001, when that category was instituted. He
lives now in contented isolation with Carla Bley, in the mountains of upstate
New York.
SELECTED
DISCOGRAPHY
AS A LEADER:
So There XtraWATT 12
Damaged In Transit XtraWATT 11
L’Histoire Du Clochard Palmetto PM2103 (with
Ohad Talmor)
Always Pack Your Uniform On Top XtraWATT
10
Are We There Yet? WATT 29 (with Carla
Bley)
Deconstructed XtraWATT 9
Real Book XtraWATT 7
Go Together WATT 24 (with Carla Bley)
Swallow XtraWATT 6
Duets WATT 20 (with Carla Bley)
Carla XtraWATT 2
Home ECM 1160
Hotel Hello ECM 1055 (with Gary Burton)
FEATURED WITH OTHERS:
Carla Bley, The Lost Chords WATT 32
Carla Bley, Night-Glo WATT 16
Carla Bley, Sextet WATT 17
John Scofield, En Route Verve B0001699-02
John Scofield, Shinola ENJA 4004
John Scofield, Out Like A Light ENJA 4038