Veronica Swift

Tonight on Fridays Live, SFJAZZ presents “an adept lyrical interpreter, tremendous tonal command” (JazzTimes), vocalist Veronica Swift. The buzz-worthy young vocalist set the jazz world on fire after her second-place finish at the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. She made her recording debut at age 9 with saxophonist Richie Cole, and has shared stages with Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Chris Botti, Jon Hendricks, Paquito D’Rivera, Esperanza Spalding, and Joe Lovano. She returns with music from her new Mack Avenue session, Veronica Swift. 

Veronica Swift is a woman of many voices, and she uses every one of them to refract a dizzying kaleidoscope of moods.
DownBeat

ABOUT VERONICA SWIFT
The buzz-worthy young vocalist set the jazz world on fire after her second-place finish at the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, in which she wowed judges Dee Dee Bridgewater, Al Jarreau and Patti Austin. She returns with music from her eponymous 2023 Mack Avenue session, Veronica Swift.

A native of Charlottesville, North Carolina, the prodigious Swift made her recording debut at age 9 with saxophonist Richie Cole and has followed her muse ever since, making her debut at Jazz at Lincoln Center at age 11 and indulging her taste for 20s and 30s swing with the legendary Nighthawks band led by historian and musician Vince Giordano.

The daughter of renowned pianist Hod O’Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian, Swift has toured with fellow 2023-23 Season performers Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and has shared the stage with Chris Botti, Michael Feinstein, Jon Hendricks, Paquito D’Rivera, Esperanza Spalding, and Joe Lovano.

Her 2019 Mack Avenue debut Confessions and 2021 follow-up This Bitter Earth were assured statements by a mature artist, paving the way for Veronica Swift — her most audacious offering yet. Featuring the drumming and co-production of Brian Viglione of Dresden Dolls fame, the album blends Swift’s roots in acoustic jazz with French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville in a stylistic approach she calls "transgenre."