Jazz Articles about John Swana

About John Swana

Liner Notes

It seems like a case of the big fish swimming in a small pond. So while Philadelphia native John Swana currently chooses to make his home in the city of Brotherly Love, it's clearly evident that this world-class musician could succeed easily in the Big Apple, the undisputed center of jazz activity in America. Taking up the trumpet at the age of 11, Swana was hooked on jazz after one spin of a Dizzy Gillespie record. Lucky enough to get ...

Album Review

JD Walter: What the World Needs Now

Read "What the World Needs Now" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
August 15, 2023

JD Walter beckons listeners into a soulful and captivating journey through modern jazz interpretations of non-jazz material. With his unique vocal stylings and innovative arrangements, he brings a fresh perspective to familiar popular tunes, and several jazz standards, while delivering thought-provoking original compositions. From the very first track--Stevie Wonder's “Golden Lady"--it is evident that Walter's vocal prowess is a force to be reckoned with. He dashes along in full flight and then effortlessly shifts into intricate ...

Album Review

The Witherbees: Love Letter

Read "Love Letter" reviewed by Jerome Wilson

by Jerome Wilson
August 12, 2021

The Witherbees are a band from Philadelphia that mix folk, country, rock and jazz together into a stew of dreamy music that flows together easily into a distinctive sound. Instrumental tracks like “Mirage," “Cold Spell" and “Tribute Valley" are the most overtly jazzy ones on their album. On these, Mike Lorenz's guitar and Jacqui Armbruster's viola play against each other in a low-key swinging mode over the tumbling undercarriage of Justin Sekelewski's solid bass and Kyle Andrews' strutting ...

Album Review

Susie Meissner: I Wish I Knew

Read "I Wish I Knew" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 3, 2020

I wish I knew why the talented Philadelphia-based singer Susie Meissner chose to open her salute to the Great American Songbook with the only tune on the album that doesn't really qualify: Curtis Lewis' “The Great City." It's not a bad song but Cole Porter or Johnny Mandel it ain't. On the bright side, Meissner recovers quickly on the fourth album under her name with a burnished rendition of the title theme, a memorable composition by the legendary Hollywood songwriting ...

Album Review

Susie Meissner: I Wish I Knew

Read "I Wish I Knew" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey

by C. Michael Bailey
September 8, 2020

Over the past decade and three previous recordings, Philadelphia-based vocalist Susie Meissner has crafted an intelligently conceived and thoughtfully paced survey of the Great American Songbook. Meissner's considerations of the standard jazz repertoire, in concert with pianist John Shaddy's sturdy arrangements and educated performance manner, have emerged, evolving from chaste and reverent beginnings, into rich and supple layerings of stylistic and technical outreach with each subsequent recording. Meissner's debut, I'll Remember April (Lydian Jazz, 2009), emerged as a ...

Interview

John Swana: Philly Gumbo

by Victor L. Schermer
May 24, 2020

From the 1995-2003 archive: This article first appeared at All About Jazz in June 2000. In addition to being one of the finest contemporary jazz trumpet players, John Swana is a human being who is spontaneously authentic and refuses to play a false role. Having reached the ripe old age of 38, John has performed side by side with many fabulous musicians, from Benny Golson to Tom Harrell, to Chris Potter, and a myriad of others whose names ...

Reassessing

In The Moment

by David A. Orthmann
February 9, 2020

The trail of splendid hard bop influenced recordings extends well beyond the genre's heyday of the 1950s and '60s. A case in point is trumpeter John Swana's appropriately titled In The Moment. The 1996 release on the Criss Cross Jazz imprint merits the exalted status of its celebrated predecessors. Captured in a one-day studio session, despite the familiar stylistic lineage it sounds fresh, spontaneous and unsullied. A sextet of intrepid, strong-willed individuals fully commit themselves to a program of compelling ...