Steve Swallow


Steve Swallow is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar.

Biography

Born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, United States, Swallow studied piano and trumpet, as a child, before turning to the double bass at the age of 14. While attending a prep school, he began trying his hand in jazz improvisation. In 1960, he left Yale University, where he was studying composition, and settled in New York City, playing at the time in Jimmy Giuffre's trio along with Paul Bley. After joining Art Farmer's quartet in 1963, Swallow began to write. It is in the 1960s that his long-term association with Gary Burton's various bands began.
In the early 1970s, Swallow switched exclusively to electric bass guitar, of which he prefers the five-string variety. He was first introduced to the electric bass while doing a music trade show with Gary Burton and trying a Gibson EB-2. Along with Monk Montgomery and Bob Cranshaw, Swallow was among the first jazz bassists to do so. He plays with a pick, and his style involves intricate solos in the upper register. He was one of the early adopters of the high C string on a bass guitar.
From 1974 to 1976, Swallow taught at the Berklee College of Music. He contributed several of his compositions to the Berklee students who assembled the first edition of The Real Book. He later recorded an album, Real Book, with the picture of a well-worn, coffee-stained book on the cover.
In 1978, Swallow became a member of Carla Bley's band. He was Bley's romantic partner from the 1980s until her death in 2023. He toured extensively with John Scofield in the early 1980s, and has returned to this collaboration several times over the years.
Swallow has consistently won the electric bass category in DownBeat yearly polls, both Critics' and Readers', since the mid-1980s. His compositions have been covered by, among others, Jim Hall, Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Stan Getz and Gary Burton. Swallow's instruments are built by Harvey Citron.

Partial discography

As leader/co-leader

  • Hotel Hello with Gary Burton
  • Homemusic to poems by Robert Creeley
  • Night-Glo with Carla Bley
  • Carla
  • Duets with Carla Bley
  • The Life of a Trio: Saturday with Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre
  • The Life of a Trio: Sunday with Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre
  • Swallow
  • Go Together with Carla Bley
  • Real Book
  • Songs with Legs with Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard
  • Parlance with John Taylor
  • Deconstructed
  • Are We There Yet? with Carla Bley
  • Always Pack Your Uniform on Top
  • Noisy Old Men with Mick Goodrick, John Abercrombie, Gary Chaffee
  • Damaged in Transit with Chris Potter and Adam Nussbaum
  • So There with Robert Creeley
  • L'Histoire du Clochard with Ohad Talmor
  • Carla's Christmas Carols with Carla Bley and the Partyka Brass Quintet
  • Playing in Traffic with Ohad Talmor and Adam Nussbaum
  • Into the Woodwork – recorded in 2011
  • The New Standard with Jamie Saft and Bobby Previte
  • Loneliness Road with Jamie Saft, Bobby Previte and Iggy Pop

    As sideman

With Rabih Abou-Khalil
  • Blue Camel
  • The Sultan's Picnic
With Carla Bley
  • 1978: Musique Mecanique
  • 1979: Social Studies
  • 1980: Live! – live
  • 1981–83: I Hate to Sing – live
  • 1983: Heavy Heart
  • 1986–87: Sextet
  • 1988: Fleur Carnivore – live
  • 1990: The Very Big Carla Bley Band
  • 1993: Big Band Theory
  • 1996: The Carla Bley Big Band Goes to Church – live
  • 1997: Fancy Chamber Music
  • 1999: 4 x 4
  • 2002: Looking for America
  • 2003: The Lost Chords – live
  • 2006: Appearing Nightly – live
  • 2007: The Lost Chords find Paolo Fresu
  • 2013: Trios
  • 2015: Andando el Tiempo
  • 2019: Life Goes On
With Paul Bley
  • Footloose!
  • Closer
  • Hot
With Gary Burton
  • The Groovy Sound of Music
  • The Time Machine
  • Tennessee Firebird
  • Duster
  • Lofty Fake Anagram
  • A Genuine Tong Funeral
  • Gary Burton Quartet in Concert
  • Country Roads & Other Places
  • Throb
  • Good Vibes
  • Paris Encounter with Stéphane Grappelli
  • Dreams So Real
  • Passengers
  • Times Square
  • Easy as Pie
  • Picture This
  • Whiz Kids
  • Real Life Hits
  • Quartet Live
With Art Farmer
  • Interaction with Jim Hall
  • Live at the Half-Note with Jim Hall
  • To Sweden with Love with Jim Hall
  • The Many Faces of Art Farmer
  • Sing Me Softly of the Blues
With Jimmy Giuffre
  • 1961 with Paul Bley
  • Emphasis, Stuttgart 1961
  • Flight, Bremen 1961
  • Free Fall
With Steve Kuhn
  • Three Waves
  • Trance
  • Wisteria
  • At This Time
With Michael Mantler
With Paul Motian
With George Russell
  • Ezz-thetics
  • The Stratus Seekers
  • The Outer View
With John Scofield
With others