By Filipe Freitas

Name: Steve Swell
Instrument: trombone
Style: avant-garde jazz, free jazz
Album Highlights: Atmospheels (CIMP, 1999), Slammin’ the Infinite (Cadence, 2004), The Center Will Hold (Not Two Records, 2020)

Being a free jazz musician, in which ways has the pandemic affected you most? What are you doing or planning to do to overcome the situation?
Well, I lost all of my work from March 14, 2020 through the end of 2020: tours, recordings, local gigs, even some teaching. During this time it has also been impossible to be able to set up work for the beginning of this year as things are still mostly locked down. We are, I hope, in the last phases of the pandemic, so I am now trying to reconnect with all those musicians and venues that I was to perform with before those dates were wiped out. I have done several streaming events during the past year and was given some support through several music organizations so I could pay the rent and keep food on the table. But it has not come close to making up for the lost work.
The musical aspect of not being able to play as regularly with my musician friends has been very frustrating and I miss that very much. Just being with those friends and the people who come out to concerts, I realize just how important that is and how much I am missing that.

When did you start playing the trombone and when did you decide to become a professional musician?
I was 10 years old when I started on the trombone. A few years into playing I was listening to a Curtis Fuller record and I found myself dreaming of wanting to be able to play and record just one solo like his. I thought that would be such an accomplishment. When I first heard Roswell Rudd was when I decided that this is the music I want to do. I never thought about how I could make a living at it, I just wanted to be in that creative space.

On your record The Center Will Hold you opted for an unusual instrumentation with violin and harmonica playing central roles. How did the idea come up? Was this the first time you've recorded with Andrew Cyrille?
I’ve known Andrew from the scene for a little while but this is the first time I recorded with him. I’ve always loved his playing and I am happy to have finally recorded something with him. He was very generous with his time and focus and even got us a rehearsal room at the New School. I first heard harmonica player Ariel Bart on a William Parker gig and I immediately knew I had to have her on a recording. She is such a creative improviser and very knowledgeable about the history of the music. It shows in her playing.
As a creative musician, I am always looking for new ways to present my music and the different combinations of instruments and musicians always works towards that end and there is not very much of this music with a harmonica.

How would you define your sound in a few words?
Bright, bold, unafraid.

Name two persons who have influenced you the most as a musician.
Roswell Rudd and a teacher I had named Morty Geist who opened us up to all the jazz that was available up to the 1970s. He was a teacher from another school who had private students at our school but he came and shared his knowledge of the music and we went to his home to listen to records too. It was a real primer on the whole history of the music. And I will say my father first introduced music to me when I was around nine years old. He played his big band records for me and tried to teach me how to play the clarinet. He was a musician himself but stopped pursuing it when he started our family. And Roswell is the one who lit the fire under me to really want to be a part of this music.

Name two persons whom you’ve never collaborated with but you’d like to.
Joelle Leandre and Wadada Leo Smith.

Can you list some of your favorite jazz records?
There are so many records over the years that I devoured and still listen to. It's hard to pick just a few but here are some that come to mind: Archie Shepp - Live in SanFrancisco; Roswell Rudd - Everywhere and Live in Donaueschingen; Anthony Braxton - For Alto; Jack Teagarden: "Rocking Chair" and "St. James Infirmary" (two tracks from records of his); any Charlie Parker recording.

Which other music genres do you listen to? For each of the genres, can you suggest some artists that inspire you?
I love James Brown and I had the privilege of recording a record with Fred Wesley in the 1990s and did the CD release gig with him. Fred was the trombone player in James Brown’s band during the height of popularity of that band. I also listen and love all the older blues musicians: Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Sonny Boy Williamson II and too many others to name here. I also love the older Country and Western and Bluegrass music. Some of my favorite artists on that scene are Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, The Carter Family, Charlie Poole and again, so many others.
And then there is “classical” and modern classical, not a great phrase really. The whole history of western classical music is still interesting to me, especially more modern composers like Elliott Carter, Berio, Ligetti and again, so many more. I have been lucky to be part of a series of recordings commissioned by Lars Olof-Gustavsson of Silkheart records. I’ve done two CDs that were inspired by Bela Bartok and Olivier Messiaen. I'm working on the music now for a third recording in the series which is inspired by Luciano Berio.