Jazz Articles about Steve Swallow

About Steve Swallow

Live Review

The Swallow-Talmor-Nussbaum Trio at the Douglas Beach House

by Bill Leikam
August 24, 2014

Swallow-Talmor-Nussbaum TrioDouglas Beach House Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society Half Moon Bay, California August 10, 2014 A rare U.S. performance by the highly sophisticated and seasoned jazz trio of Steve Swallow, electric bass; Ohad Talmor, tenor saxophone; and Adam Nussbaum on drums, set the stage for a two-set performance. Before his passing on July 12, 2014, Pete Douglas, the legendary club owner and founder of the Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society, talked about this ...

Album Review

The Swallow Quintet: Into the Woodwork

Read "Into the Woodwork" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
August 21, 2013

In the press sheet for Steve Swallow's Into the Woodwork, the award-winning electric bassist is quoted, saying: “Good humor before and after the red light goes on is very important. Music-making should be fun, after all." Those fortunate enough to see Swallow with Steve Kuhn and Joey Baron this past summer--including a memorable stop at the 2013 TD Ottawa Jazz Festival--experienced this ethos first-hand, as smiles and outright laughter defined a performance that was, indeed, great fun, but just as ...

Album Review

Pete La Roca: Basra

by Greg Simmons
January 3, 2013

Pete La Roca was one of those musicians with a long but under-sung career. He was a sideman to some great Blue Note leaders including saxophonists Sonny Rollins, Jackie McLean, and Joe Henderson, but he only ever recorded one date (1965's Basra) under his own name during the label's heyday, and indeed only three records total as a leader over a fifty-year career. He was a drummer in the background in almost every sense.According to La Roca's obituary ...

Multiple Reviews

Jazz and Poetry: Impacted Gems

by Gordon Marshall
July 21, 2012

The poetry of the Beats, the New York school and the Black Mountain school, as well as the jazz poets, all share a particularly heavy rhythmic feel and an earthy, gritty imagery that creates a kind of syncopation within itself. The scenes dance and bump up against each other, cutting and rubbing up against the beat. Three of these poets, Kenneth Patchen (1911-1992), Paul Haines (1933-2003), and Robert Creeley (1926-2005), receive jazz treatments on a recent release, a re-release, and ...

Album Review

John Scofield: Out Like a Light

Read "Out Like a Light" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 15, 2011

La ristampa di questo album del 1981 del notissimo chitarrista John Scofield ci consente di fare il punto sulla carriera di uno dei nomi di punta del panorama jazzistico degli ultimi trent'anni. All'epoca della registrazione di questo eccellente album in trio Scofield non era ancora approdato alla corte di Miles Davis, ma era già ben noto fra gli appassionati della chitarra elettrica, come una delle voci emergenti di quel periodo, assieme a Pat Metheny e a Bill Frisell. In questi ...

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Album Review

Steve Swallow / Ohad Talmor / Adam Nussbaum: Playing in Traffic

Read "Playing in Traffic" reviewed by Lyn Horton

by Lyn Horton
April 7, 2010

Recorded at the 2008 Xopana Festival in Madeira, Portugal, Playing in Traffic begins with its title tune and a rhythmic walking line from electric bassist Steve Swallow's nimble fingers. Drummer Adam Nussbaum follows with rapid stick and brushwork and tenor saxophonist Ohad Talmor folds into the rhythm with precise staccato phrases. This bouncy cut introduces a body of music that becomes nostalgically tuneful, simultaneously demonstrating focus and integrity. Talmor is a master at making melody his subject ...

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Album Review

Bohuslan Big Band with Steve Swallow: Swallow Songs

Read "Swallow Songs" reviewed by Edward Blanco

by Edward Blanco
March 25, 2009

In 2007, veteran bassist Steve Swallow accepted an invitation to record his music from Goran Levin, Manager of the Bohuslan Big Band, one of the finest jazz orchestras in Sweden. Swallow Songs, with Steve Swallow and The Bohuslan Big Band, is the result of that auspicious invitation, spurred from a prior professional encounter with mutual friend, trumpeter Lew Soloff. Swallow, who is not only recognized as premier bassist but also as a composer and arranger, leads the sixteen-piece BBB through ...