Referencing poet Rhina P. Espaillat and her poem about the perseverance and future influence of individual art, New York trombonist Steve Swell, also performing on pocket trumpet, presents eight solo recordings of advanced techniques and unique creative power, in seven succinct expressions including a work for Walter Weirbos, and the extended improv "Hope".
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Steve Swell-trombone, pocket trumpet
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UPC: 5904224871925
Label: Relative Pitch
Catalog ID: RPR1168
Squidco Product Code: 33534
Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2023
Country: USA
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Track 1 recorded on August 15th, 2015.
Tracks 2-8 recorded at GSI Studios, in Manhattan, New York, on December 13th, 2022, by Jason Rostkowski.
"Rhina P. Espaillat is a poet whose poem "Why Publish?" (please google it!) imagines how her poetry could touch someone 100 years from now. That poem speaks of her connection with a future reader. It inspired me to see my music the same way and think what it might mean for someone who picks up this recording in the future and connect with it in a way I might not have imagined. It might inspire a future listener to take the risk of creating or doing something not done before. Or be comforted somehow knowing there was someone feeling what they are feeling. My hope is for that kind of connection."-Steve Swell
Rhina P. Espaillat's Why Publish?
The Squid's Ear!
Artist Biographies
• Show Bio for Steve Swell "Born in Newark, NJ, Steve Swell has been an active member of the NYC music community since 1975. He has toured and recorded with many artists from mainstreamers such as Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich to so called outsiders as Anthony Braxton, Bill Dixon, Cecil Taylor and William Parker. He has over 40 CDs as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artists on more than 100 other releases. He runs workshops around the world and is a teaching artist in the NYC public school system focusing on special needs children. Swell has worked on music transcriptions of the Bosavi tribe of New Guinea for MacArthur fellow, Steve Feld in 2000. His CD, "Suite For Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers" (CIMP) ranked number 2 in the 2004 Cadence Readers Poll. He has also received grants from USArtists International in 2006, MCAF (LMCC) awards in 2008 and 2013 and has been commissioned twice on the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006 and at Roulette in 2012. Steve was nominated for Trombonist of the Year 2008 & 2011 by the Jazz Journalists Association, was selected Trombonist of the Year 2008-2010 , 2012 and 2014-2015 by the magazine El Intruso of Argentina and received the 2008 Jubilation Foundation Fellowship Award of the Tides Foundation. Steve has also been selected by the Downbeat Critics Poll in the Trombone category each year from 2010-2016. Steve is presently a teaching artist through the American Composers Orchestra, Healing Arts Initiative , Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center (Bronx), the Jazz Foundation of America and Leman Manhattan Preparatory School. Steve was also awarded the 2014 Creative Curricula grant (LMCC) for the project: "Metamorphoses: Modern Mythology in Sound and Words" which was taught in a month long residency at Baruch College Campus High School in Manhattan." ^ Hide Bio for Steve Swell
4/24/2024
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Track Listing:
1. Hope 18:35
2. Rubber Glove 04:53
3. Spasticity 02:33
4. Chat and Clack 03:29
5. Pocket Trumpet 01:52
6. Dazed and Amused 03:33
7. Scraping For Walter Weirbos 02:56
8. Shaky's Blues 03:25
Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
NY Downtown & Metropolitan Jazz/Improv
Recordings featuring brass instruments - trumpets, trombones, tubas, other horns
Solo Artist Recordings
New in Improvised Music
Search for other titles on the label:
Relative Pitch.
 | PNY Quintet (Swell / Brown / Edelin / Giron / Betsch) Over The Wall (RogueArt) |
| While NY trombonist Steve Swell and alto saxophonist Rob Brown were in Paris, flutist Michel Edelin, who has recorded and performed with Swell over more than a decade, organized this session with Paris-based American ex-pats, drummer John Betsch and bassist Peter Giron, recording three Swell compositions, two by Brown, one from Edelin and four collective improvisations; magnifique! | |
 | Shipp, Matthew / Steve Swell Space Cube Jazz (RogueArt) |
| The first duo recordings from fellow New York jazz musicians, trombonist Steve Swell and pianist Matthew Shipp, having brushed shoulders together with Whit Dickey, Dom Minasai, Jemeel Moondoc, Allen Lowe &c., they bring a wealth of familiar knowledge and language to their binary concentration, through twelve concise dialogs themed around the dark expanse of space; masterful and intimate. | |
 | Harnik, Elisabeth / Steve Swell Welcome to the Troposphere (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!)) |
| An explorative album of collective free improvisation from the transatlantic duo of German pianist Elisabeth Harnik and New York trombonist Steve Swell, following up on their 2020 album Tonotopic Organisation, this 2022 live concert at Offene Ohren, in Munich brings listeners current to both improvisers immense creative drive, masterful skill, and their mutual, exuberant rapport. | |
 | Brown, Rob Quartet (Brown / Swell / Lightcap / Taylor) Oblongata (RogueArt) |
| Having met in William Parker's Little Huey Orchestra, long-time collaborators Rob Brown (saxophone & flute) and Steve Swell (trombone), along with Brown's longest improvising partner, double bassist Chris Lightcap, join with drummer Chad Taylor for an exemplary album of modern creative jazz through five Brown compositions and 4 collective improvisations. | |
 | Bergman / Robinson / Swell / Sage Quartets/Trios/Duos (Mahakala Music) |
| Sheltered in place during the pandemic, trombonist Steve Swell occupied his time listening to recordings forgotten or never released, seizing on these excellent studio session from 2007 organized with drummer Ray Sage, performed in duo, trio and quartet configurations with clarinetist Perry Robinson and pianist Borah Bergman, demonstrating that in bad circumstance, good can appear. | |
 | Carter, Daniel / Steve Swell / Federico Ughi Concrete Science (577 Records) |
 | Warriors of the Wonderful Sound Expanded Ensemble, The Soundpath (Clean Feed) |
| AACM legend Muhal Richard Abrams was commissioned by Philadelphia saxophonist Bobby Zankel to compose for Zankel's large ensemble Warriors of the Wonderful Sound, this monumental piece premiered in 2012, but only in 2018 was a 2nd performance possible, conducted by Marty Ehrlich and receiving 2 standing ovations, the band recording this studio version the next day at Drexel University. | |
 | Williams, Mars Presents An Ayler Xmas Vol. 4: Chicago vs. NYC [VINYL] (Astral Spirits / Soul What Records) |
| This year's An Ayler Xmas, the 4th in the series from saxophonist Mars Williams, expands to a double CD with recordings from two bands: Josh Berman, Jim Baker, Kent Kessler, Brian Sandstrom & Steve Hunt (Chicago); and Steve Swell, Hilliard Greene, Chris Corsano, Nels Cline & Fred Lonberg-Holm (NYC); in incredible free jazz mashups and bash-ups of Holiday favorites. | |
 | Dunmall / Swell / Owston / Sanders So Perhaps (FMR) |
| British saxophonist Paul Dunmall and American trombonist Steve Swell in a quartet with master drummer Mark Sanders and emerging UK bassist James Owston took the stage at Jubilee Center Birmingham, UK in 2019 for this dynamic album of collective improvisation, in a staggering concert of powerful technique and upbeat, ultimately swinging free jazz. | |
 | Gjerstad, Frode Trio + Steve Swell Bop Stop (Clean Feed) |
| The indefatigable Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad invites trombonist Steve Swell, with whom he collaborated in 2011 on the live album "At Constellation", to join his trio with Jon Rune Strom on double bass and drummer Paal Nilssen-Love, at Cleveland's Bop stop during their 2017 tour, recording this impressive concert of exemplary collective free jazz. | |
 | Swell, Steve (w/ Brown / Hwang / Ulrich / Boston / Pugliese) Music for Six Musicians: Hommage a Olivier Messiaen (Silkheart) |
| Steve Swell presents an homage to composer Olivier Messiaen in a sextet with Rob Brown (saxophone), Jason Kao Hwang (violin & viola), Robert Boston (piano & organ), Tomas Ulrich (cello), and Jim Pugliese (drums & percussion) performed live at Metro Baptist Church in NYC, 2017, a presentation of encompassing and passionate free music that knows little boundary. | |
 | Chicago Plan, The (Swell / Ullmann / Lonberg-Holdm / Zerang) The Chicago Plan (Clean Feed) |
| Bringing together the core of the Gebhard Ullmann / Steve Swell Quartet in sax and trombone with Chicago mainstay improvisers Fred Longberg-Holm on cello & electronics and Michael Zerang on drums for an album that embraces free jazz, world rhythms, and experimental sound. | |
 | Costa, Carlo Quartet Sediment (Neither/Nor Records) |
| A new NY label from percussionist Carlo Costa in its 1st release, a quartet with Steve Swell on trombone, Sean ali on bass and Jonathan Moritz on sax, presenting an improvisational language that subsumes the individual players into a distinct group sound. | |
 | Gregorio, Guillermo / Pandelis Karayorgis / Steve Swell Window and Doorway (Driff Records) |
| The trio of Guillermo Gregorio (clarinet), Steve Swell (trombone) and Pandelis Karayorgis (piano) use their unique selection of instruments to play an original set of composition and improv. | |
 | Platform 1 Takes Off (Clean Feed) |
| A first and exceptional release from the Platform 1 quintet of Chicago reedist Ken Vandermark, NY trombonist Steve Swell, European trumpeter Magnus Broo, Canadian ex-pat bassist Joe Williamson, and Amsterdamn based drummer Michael Vatcher. | |
 | Tsahar, Assif and the Zoanthropic Orchestra Embracing the Void (Hopscotch Records) |
| Tsahar's 60-minute suite with his NY heavyweights Zoanthropic Orchestra is a sort of self-portrait in sound, drawing on auditory memories from his childhood on. | |
 | Moondoc Tentet, Jemeel / Jus Grew Orchestra Live at the Vision Festival 2001 (Ayler) |
| Moondoc Tentet, Jemeel / Jus Grew Orchestra Live at the Vision Festival 2001 (Ayler) |
 | Diplomats, The We Are Not Obstinate Islands (Clean Feed) |
| PNY Quintet (Swell / Brown / Edelin / Giron / Betsch) Over The Wall (RogueArt) |
| While NY trombonist Steve Swell and alto saxophonist Rob Brown were in Paris, flutist Michel Edelin, who has recorded and performed with Swell over more than a decade, organized this session with Paris-based American ex-pats, drummer John Betsch and bassist Peter Giron, recording three Swell compositions, two by Brown, one from Edelin and four collective improvisations; magnifique! | |
 | Swell, Steve Dances with Questions [3-CD SET] (Not Two) |
| Recorded during the 2019 Kraków Jazz Autumn Festival, NY trombonist Steve Swell leads a series of small groups and a large ensemble, recording at Radio Kraków and at Alchemia with some of Europe's most active improvisers: Gebhard Ullmannm, Elisabeth Harnik, Niklas Barno, Paal Nilssen-Love, Jon Rune Strom, Carlos Zingaro, Mikolaj Trzaska, Signe Emmeluth, Hanne de Backer, Elisabeth Coudoux, & Per Ake Holmlander. | |
 | Vergara, Benjamin The Impossibility Of A Single Sound (Relative Pitch) |
| A "subterranean homage to trumpet players of the caliber of Don Cherry, Bill Dixon, Miles Davis, Lester Bowie, Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith, Jaimie Branch and Chet Baker", in six improvisations of unusual technique and creative concept from Chilean trumpeter Benjamin Vergarda, known for his work with Fred Frith, Keefe Jackson, &c, and director of the Festival of Experimental Music Relincha. | |
 | Swell / Tokar / Kugel For The People Of The Open Heart (Listen! Foundation (Fundacja Sluchaj!)) |
| A meeting in Dortmund, Germany between the working trio of three masterful improvisers--New York trombonist Steve Swell, also on flute; Ukrainian double bassist Mark Tokar; and German drummer Klaus Kugel--recording 6 collective, spontaneous improvisations and Swell's "Child's Play", extending the concepts of the bass, drum and trombone trio. | |
 | Swell, Steve / Joe Mcphee / Chris Corsano Sometimes The Air Is (Mahakala Music) |
| A masterful album of collective free improvisation captured in Brooklyn's Park West Studios by Jim Clouse, of the trio of tenor saxophonist Joe McPhee, trombonist Steve Swell and drummer Chris Corsano, ten conversations of diverse approach, from reflectively abstract to uncompromisingly assertive discourse that is ultimately fueled by a joyful camaraderie. | |
 | Swell's, Steve Fire Into Music ( w/ Moondoc / Parker / Drake) For Jemeel: Fire From The Road [3 CDs] (RogueArt) |
| A triple CD of extended and magnificent performances between 2004 & 2005 from the quartet of Steve Swell on trombone, William Parker on double bass, Hamid Drake on drums and Jemeel Moondoc on alto saxophone, to whom this album is dedicated; two concerts in Texas and one at the Guelph Jazz Festival, with compositions from Swell and Moondoc plus collective improvisations. | |
 | William Parker Universal Tonality [2 CDs] (Centering Records) |
| An incredible performance recorded at Roulette in NYC by a large ensemble of 16 jazz luminaries of various ages, cultures and musical backgrounds, led by composer and bassist William Parker, who explains that Universal Tonality is another name for love, the profusion of which is interpreted by vocalist Leena Conquest in a profoundly inspired concert of magnificent artistry. | |
