Home » Jazz Articles » Steve Swallow

Jazz Articles about Steve Swallow

About Steve Swallow

460

Multiple Reviews

Steve Swallow: Swallow Songs & Dedicated to Steve

by Fred Bouchard
October 18, 2008

Mellow, majestic, mischievous--smooth mnemonics come to mind when listening (or even thinking) about bassist Steve Swallow's music. The estimable (nay, venerable) progenitor of jazz electric bass (or is it Monk Montgomery?) has more basslines up his sleeve than Svengali had pigeons, and his sinuous sleight-of-hand with chord progressions dazzles with its deceptive "ease" of execution and a major-league modicum of merry expressiveness. These two European sessions find Swallow in divergent modes of inspiration: as guest soloist and arranger ...

644

Interview

Steve Swallow: Embracing Music and Greater Awareness

by Matthew Miller
May 8, 2008

For 50 years, Steve Swallow has represented the pinnacle of jazz bass playing. First on acoustic, then exclusively on electric bass, the versatile Swallow approaches every musical situation with grace and understated virtuosity. His discography reads like a Who's Who of the important improvisers of the 20th and early 21st Century. Swallow continues to tour extensively around the world and record with Carla Bley, Gary Burton, John Scofield and many others. AAJ contributor Matthew Miller spoke with Swallow at his ...

154

Album Review

Steve Swallow with Robert Creeley: So There

Read "So There" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
March 6, 2007

Steve Swallow goes for a varied approach on So There, combining string quartets, piano and bass, all of this inspired by the poetry of Robert Creeley, one of the most important American poets. This is his second release inspired by Creeley's poetry; in 1980 Swallow and Kuhn (and vocalist Sheila Jordan) released Home on ECM. So There is mostly a quiet and thoughtful affair, and the performances feature close interplay between Swallow and pianist Joachim Kuhn, with ...

906

Interview

Steve Swallow: The Poetry Of Music

by Jason Crane
February 12, 2007

Bassist Steve Swallow and poet Robert Creeley were friends for 30 years. Swallow first read Creeley's work in the 1950s, and instantly fell in love with what Creeley had to say and the way he said it. Twenty years later, a chance meeting with Creeley led to a personal and professional relationship. Creeley's work inspired two of Swallow's albums--Home (ECM, 1980) and his most recent recording, So There (XtraWATT/ECM, 2006).AAJ contributor Jason Crane talked with Swallow about So ...

Album Review

Steve Swallow with Robert Creeley: So There

Read "So There" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
January 5, 2007

Ci si deve abbandonare completamente e lasciarsi trasportare da suoni e parole per gustare appieno la magia di So There. Steve Swallow aveva già omaggiato l’arte poetica di Robert Creeley con Home, album del 1980 registrato insieme a Sheila Jordan e Steve Kuhn. Ma senza nulla togliere alla splendida cantante di Detroit, sentire i versi declamati dalla voce profonda di Creeley in persona fa correre un brivido di emozione lungo la schiena. So There è un magnifico gioco di intarsi, ...

827

Extended Analysis

Steve Swallow with Robert Creeley: So There

by Jeff Dayton-Johnson
November 28, 2006

Steve Swallow with Robert CreeleySo ThereXtraWatt/ECM2006 Bassist Steve Swallow has been meditating on the poetry of the late Robert Creeley (1926-2005) for a long time. In 1980, Swallow and pianist Steve Kuhn released an album of song settings of Creeley's poems with vocalist Sheila Jordan (Home, ECM). After a quarter century, Swallow feels prepared to take up the collaboration again.For So There, Creeley recorded a selection of ...

225

Album Review

Steve Swallow with Robert Creeley: So There

by Budd Kopman
November 20, 2006

So There is a mixture of Robert Creeley reading short poems and fragments of longer ones, surrounded and accompanied by Steve Kuhn's light, dazzling, free piano and Steve Swallow's feathery bass (and guitar-like solos in the upper register)--plus occasionally the Cikada String Quartet, both alone and with Swallow and Kuhn. Creeley's poems have an understated pulse, but his readings emphasize it even more, especially as he many times breaks down words into separate syllables. Swallow has long ...