Steve Swell

Steve Swell (born in Newark, NJ, December 6, 1954) is an American free jazz trombonist and composer.

Swell studied at Jersey City State College before moving to New York City in 1975 where he began his musical life, playing in top 40 bands, salsa bands, big bands (most notably those of Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton) and performed on Broadway in Bob Fosse's "Dancin"". He then became a member of Makanda Ken McIntyre's band which led to tours and recordings with Tim Berne, Joey Baron, Herb Robertson, Jemeel Moondoc, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, William Parker, Bill Dixon, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Elliott Sharp, Rob Mazurek, Perry Robinson.

He is greatly influenced by Roswell Rudd, with whom he studied in the mid-1970s. He was also a student of Grachan Moncur III and Jimmy Knepper.

Swell has a number of projects including Slammin' The Infinite (w/Sabir Mateen, Matthew Heyner, Klaus Kugel), Fire Into Music (w/William Parker, Jemeel Moondoc, Hamid Drake), Unified Theory Of Sound (w/Cooper-Moore, Matt Lavelle) and his large ensemble Nation Of We (aka NOW Ensemble).

Steve has received a number of awards including a USArts International (NEA) travel grant in 2006, grants from MCAF (LMCC) in 2008 & 2012, Foundation for Contemporary Arts and was nominated for Trombonist of Year, 2008 & 2011 by the Jazz Journalists Association. He was chosen Trombonist of the Year 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2012 by El Intruso, the Argentine jazz journal. In 2008 he received a fellowship award from The Jubilation Foundation of the Tides Foundation for his work in the NYC public school system and was selected by the Downbeat Critics Poll in the Trombone category 2010, 2011 & 2012.

As sideman
With Jaki Byard and the Apollo Stompers With Tom Varner
 * Phantasies (Soul Note, 1984)
 * The Mystery of Compassion (Soul Note, 1992)