Veronica Swift
Bio
“She has a miraculous voice, musical ability and technique, as well as an innate gift for entertaining a crowd.” — Wall Street Journal
Veronica Swift has established herself as one of her generation’s iconic voices in Jazz. Throughout her childhood, she toured nationally with her parents (Jazz musicians Hod O’Brien and Stephanie Nakasian) singing at renowned clubs and festivals such as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Jazz Standard (NYC), Jazz Showcase (Chicago), and Telluride Jazz Festival. She recorded her first album at age nine, and since then has had a career spanning two decades which saw a 2nd place win at The 2015 Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition, a twice-a-year residency at Birdland Jazz Club, joining Chris Botti’s touring band, as well as touring with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra and recording with Jeff Goldblum. Her 2021 album This Bitter Earth received a 5-star review and the cover of DownBeat magazine, and in 2024, she was honored with a French knighthood as Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.
While her first two releases on Mack Avenue cemented her as a master of scat improvisation and programming conceptual song cycles, her most recent self-titled album (2023) showed us that Swift’s talents and path lie in other directions than just Jazz, rather theatrical glam rock as seen with her original band DAME, which she co-founded with The Dresden Dolls’ Brian Viglione. Since moving to Los Angeles in 2022, she pursued other projects and collaborations in the rock genre with artists like pianist Mike Garson of David Bowie, Luke Spiller of The Struts, guitarist John Notto of Dirty Honey, and The Lemon Twigs. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre.