Steve Swell

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

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, Dave Burrell, Elliott Sharp, Rob Mazurek, Perry Robinson, Ken Vandermark.

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

Swell 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 & 2020 by the Jazz Journalists Association.

With Slammin' the Infinite With Ullmann/Swell 4 with Barry Altschul and Hilliard Greene With Nation of We With Inner Ear With Marshall Allen Digital release With Active Ingredients (Chad Taylor, Jemeel Moondoc, Tom Abbs, Swell) With Joey Baron With Tim Berne With Anthony Braxton With Rob Brown With Jaki Byard and the Apollo Stompers With Bill Dixon With Jemeel Moondoc With William Parker With Roswell Rudd With Alan Silva With Cecil Taylor With Ken Vandermark With Tom Varner