Veronica Swift

Veronica Swift first came to prominence as a straight-ahead jazz singer when she won first runner-up in the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocal Competition. She continued to impress the jazz world with weekly performances at Birdland in New York City and performances with Wynton Marsalis and Chris Botti.

While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows that she’s more than a jazz singer, exploring French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville. She pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre.

Swift describes this personal artistic statement on her new album as “transgenre” reflecting on her parents – jazz singer and educator, Stephanie Nakasian, and bebop pianist, Hod O’Brien.

I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors, and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that tradition. But as rooted in jazz as I’ve been, there’s a uniquely visceral power in rock and soul music that’s always fueled my creative passion, and rather than mask or confine that part of my identity, the people I admire most show themselves unabashedly and that’s the kind of tradition I want to be a part of. — Veronica Swift

Her recent performances have broken the barriers of restrictions or genre classification. Performing to sold-out audiences, Swift effortlessly flows from Ella Fitzgerald to Judy Garland, transitioning smoothly from Grace Slick to the “Brechtian punk cabaret” of Dresden Dolls. (Swift’s current drummer is Brian Viglione of that band.) Audience comments have been “unbelievable”, “amazing”, and “blown away.” The level of Swift’s expertise and talent is astounding.