Veronica Swift
Veronica Swift’s new eponymously titled album, her third for Mack Avenue Records, is a masterful coming-out story. In her previous albums, Confessions (2019) and This Bitter Earth (2021), she ascended to the upper echelon of early 21st century jazz singers because of her virtuosic brilliance, interpretive ingenuity, bracing songwriting, and keen arrangements. Simply put, Swift is not only one of the most dazzling singers to emerge in her generation, she’s one of the most versatile.
While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows she’s more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, & vaudeville. And she pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains intact regardless of genre.
For the album, Swift enlisted Brian Viglione of the punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls, to perform on drums and co-produce the record alongside Swift & Mariano Aponte. The recording also features a long list of collaborators, including pianist, keyboardist and organist Adam Klipple; pianist and arranger Randy Waldman; guitarists Chris Whiteman & Samson Schmitt; percussionist Luisito Quintero; singer Austin Patterson; violinist and violist Antoine Silverman; violinist Pierre Blanchard; bassists Philip Norris, Alex Claffy, Antonio Licusati & Felix Maldonado; saxophonists Troy Roberts & David Leon; trumpeters Benny Benack III & James Sarno; trombonist Javier Nero; accordionist Ludovic Bier; vocalist Carolynne Framil and woodwind player and orchestrator David Mann.
Swift first gained major international attention in 2015 when she won second place in the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition. Four years later, Mack Avenue Records released her acclaimed album Confessions when she was only 25 years old. She demonstrated her flair for conceptual song cycles on her follow-up album, This Bitter Earth, which not only gave glimpses of her rock influences but thematically touched upon some of the harder truths of being a woman, particularly when it comes to domestic abuse.
Line-Up:
Veronica Swift: vocals
Gary Joseph Potter Jr.: guitar
Max Gerl: bass
Carey Frank: piano, keyboard & guitar
Brian Viglione: drums
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