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Tier 2 · legacy legendfull biography

Steve Swallow

Person · male · United States · Fair Lawn · born 1940 · recording since 1974

American jazz bassist and composer

jazz jazz fusion

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Also known as スティーブ・スワロー

Debut: 1974
Recording span: 52 years
Release groups: 58
Timeline events: 51
Wiki language versions: 16

Compare this artist Read the biography Jump to timeline

Timeline

51 events▣ Album 49◦ Birth 1★ Debut release 1

1940s
1. 4 October 1940 · Birth
  Born 1940-10-04
  source: wikidata
1970s
1. 1974 · Debut release
  Debut release: We Could Be Flying
  First documented Album in the MusicBrainz discography.
  source: musicbrainz
2. 1974 · Album
  Album: We Could Be Flying
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 1975 · Album
  Album: Hotel Hello
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 1978 · Album
  Album: Unexpected
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
1980s
1. 1980 · Album
  Album: Home
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. November 1985 · Album
  Album: Night-glo
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. June 1988 · Album
  Album: Duets
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
1990s
1. 1990 · Album
  Album: The Life of a Trio: Saturday
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 1990 · Album
  Album: The Life of a Trio: Sunday
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 1992 · Album
  Album: Fly Away Little Bird
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 1992 · Album
  Album: Swallow
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
5. 23 April 1993 · Album
  Album: Go Together
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
6. 1994 · Album
  Album: Real Book
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
7. 1996 · Album
  Album: Carla
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
8. 7 May 1996 · Album
  Album: Conversations With a Goose
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
9. 1997 · Album
  Album: Carla
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
10. 2 June 1997 · Album
  Album: Deconstructed
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
11. 1999 · Album
  Album: Three Guys
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2000s
1. 5 June 2000 · Album
  Album: Always Pack Up Your Uniform On Top
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 2002 · Album
  Album: Noisy Old Men
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 2002 · Album
  Album: Nostalgia
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 2002 · Album
  Album: >trio<
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
5. 2002 · Album
  Album: Little Poems
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
6. 2002 · Album
  Album: Grey
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
7. 15 December 2004 · Album
  Album: Live in Japan, Vol. 2
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
8. 2005 · Album
  Album: New Old Age
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
9. 2006 · Album
  Album: Three For All
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
10. July 2006 · Album
  Album: Awakening
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
11. 7 November 2006 · Album
  Album: So There
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
12. 2007 · Album
  Album: Two By Two
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
13. 2008 · Album
  Album: Believe in Spring
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
14. 2008 · Album
  Album: Swallow Songs
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
15. 1 November 2009 · Album
  Album: Playing in Traffic
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
16. 4 November 2009 · Album
  Album: Carla’s Christmas Carols
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2010s
1. 2012 · Album
  Album: Soyeusement - Live in Noirlac
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 27 January 2012 · Album
  Album: Agnostic Chant Book
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 2013 · Album
  Album: Right Together
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 6 September 2013 · Album
  Album: Trios
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
5. March 2014 · Album
  Album: Willow: A Jazz Suite
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
6. 5 May 2014 · Album
  Album: The New Standard
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
7. 22 August 2014 · Album
  Album: Simple Songs
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
8. 15 September 2014 · Album
  Album: Singular Curves
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
9. 5 May 2015 · Album
  Album: The Oldest Living Thing
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
10. 6 May 2016 · Album
  Album: Andando el tiempo
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
11. 30 November 2018 · Album
  Album: To and From the Heart
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
12. 25 January 2019 · Album
  Album: You Don’t Know the Life
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2020s
1. 14 February 2020 · Album
  Album: Life Goes On
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
2. 15 May 2020 · Album
  Album: Swallow Tales
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
3. 7 May 2021 · Album
  Album: Over the Rainbow
  Album
  source: musicbrainz
4. 26 June 2026 · Album
  Album: Winter Songs
  Album
  source: musicbrainz

Biography

English biography602 words · 3 sectionssource: wikipedia-en · licence CC BY-SA 4.0 · revision 1362644878

Biography

Steve Swallow (born October 4, 1940) is an American jazz bassist and composer, known for his collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton, and Carla Bley. He was one of the first jazz double bassists to switch entirely to electric bass guitar.

Biography

Born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey, United States, Swallow studied piano and trumpet, as a child, before turning to the double bass at the age of 14. While attending a prep school, he began trying his hand in jazz improvisation. In 1960, he left Yale University, where he was studying composition, and settled in New York City, playing at the time in Jimmy Giuffre's trio along with Paul Bley. After joining Art Farmer's quartet in 1963, Swallow began to write. It is in the 1960s that his long-term association with Gary Burton's various bands began.
In the early 1970s, Swallow switched exclusively to electric bass guitar, of which he prefers the five-string variety. He was first introduced to the electric bass while doing a music trade show with Gary Burton and trying a Gibson EB-2. Along with Monk Montgomery and Bob Cranshaw, Swallow was among the first jazz bassists to do so (with much encouragement from Roy Haynes, one of Swallow's favorite drummers). He plays with a pick (made of copper by Hotlicks), and his style involves intricate solos in the upper register. He was one of the early adopters of the high C string on a bass guitar.
From 1974 to 1976, Swallow taught at the Berklee College of Music. He contributed several of his compositions to the Berklee students who assembled the first edition of The Real Book. He later recorded an album, Real BookReal Book1994 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 10 tracks1Bite Your Grandmother4:452Second Handy Motion4:503Wrong Together5:224Outfits5:555Thinking Out Loud5:096Let's Eat5:407Better Times3:528Willow4:159Muddy in the Bank3:2310Ponytail6:28, with the picture of a well-worn, coffee-stained book on the cover.
In 1978, Swallow became a member of Carla Bley's band. He was Bley's romantic partner from the 1980s until her death in 2023. He toured extensively with John Scofield in the early 1980s, and has returned to this collaboration several times over the years.
Swallow has consistently won the electric bass category in DownBeat yearly polls, both Critics' and Readers', since the mid-1980s. His compositions have been covered by, among others, Jim Hall (who recorded his first tune, "Eiderdown"), Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Stan Getz and Gary Burton. Swallow's instruments are built by Harvey Citron.

As leader/co-leader

Hotel Hello with Gary Burton (ECM, 1974)
Home – music to poems by Robert Creeley (ECM, 1980)
Night-Glo with Carla Bley (Watt, 1985)
Carla (Xtra Watt, 1987)
Duets with Carla Bley (Watt, 1988)
The Life of a Trio: Saturday with Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre (Owl, 1989)
The Life of a Trio: Sunday with Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre (Owl, 1989)
Swallow (Xtra Watt, 1991)
Go Together with Carla Bley (Watt, 1992)
Real Book (Xtra Watt, 1993)
Songs with Legs (Watt, 1994) with Carla Bley and Andy Sheppard
Parlance (Instant Present, 1995) with John Taylor
Deconstructed (Xtra Watt, 1996)
Are We There Yet? with Carla Bley (Watt, 1998)
Always Pack Your Uniform on Top (Xtra Watt/ECM, 2000)
Noisy Old Men (Jam, 2002) with Mick Goodrick, John Abercrombie, Gary Chaffee
Damaged in Transit with Chris Potter and Adam Nussbaum (Xtra Watt, 2003)
So There with Robert Creeley (Xtra Watt, 2006)
L'Histoire du Clochard with Ohad Talmor (Palmetto, 2007)
Carla's Christmas Carols with Carla Bley and the Partyka Brass Quintet (Watt, 2009)
Playing in Traffic with Ohad Talmor and Adam Nussbaum (Auand, 2009)
Into the Woodwork (Xtra Watt, 2013) – recorded in 2011
The New Standard with Jamie Saft and Bobby Previte (RareNoise, 2014)
Loneliness Road with Jamie Saft, Bobby Previte and Iggy Pop (RareNoise, 2017)
Winter Songs (ECM, 2026)

Discography & profile

Normalised profile

Percentiles are computed over every artist in the database, so a tier-3 artist can still sit in the 95th percentile on a single axis.

Normalised profile metrics with percentile rank
Metric	Value	Percentile
Wikipedia language versions	16	74.5th
Spotify monthly listeners	—	no data
Release groups in DB	58	95.3th
Studio albums	49	99.2th
Awards recorded	0	0th
Timeline events	51	98.9th
Recording span (years)	52	92.5th
Genres	6	91th

Percentiles are computed at render time; missing values mean the artist has no data on that axis.

Discography (58 release groups · 49 studio albums)

Albums · 49

We Could Be Flying
1974 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 35:38
A1We Could Be Flying6:05
A2Meaning of Love5:08
A3Sometime Ago3:05
A4All I Want3:32
B1Sing Me Softly of the Blues5:41
B2Raindrops, Raindrops3:47
B3Lament2:51
B4Hold Out Your Hand2:25
B5Time to Go3:04
Hotel Hello
1975 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 36:00
A1Chelsea Bells (For Hern)4:25
A2Hotel Overture + Vamp3:39
A3Hotel Hello5:24
A4Inside In2:43
A5Domino Biscuit1:56
B1Vashkar5:58
B2Sweet Henry4:02
B3Impromptu2:29
B4Sweeping Up5:24
Unexpected
1978 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 49:12
A1Swirls4:42
A2Trio 34:21
A3The Sunflower5:23
A4Predicament in Three Parts5:29
A5Synonym5:12
B1Statement3:29
B2Loops8:05
B3Unexpected12:31
Home
1980 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 42:21
A1Some Echoes5:37
A2"She was young..."3:34
A3"Nowhere one..."5:01
A4Colors4:24
A5Home3:25
B1In the Fall4:00
B2"You didn't think..."2:55
B3Ice Cream4:18
B4Echo5:24
B5Midnight3:43
Night-glo
1985 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 5 tracks · 36:31
A1Pretend You’re in Love4:30
A2Night-Glo6:44
A3Rut7:32
B1Crazy With You5:10
5Wildlife: Horns / Pawns Without Claws / Sex With Birds12:35
Duets
1988 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 55:23
1Baby Baby6:28
2Walking Batteriewoman4:01
3Útviklingssang4:43
4Ladies in Mercedes5:44
5Romantic Notions #37:02
6Remember5:25
7Ups & Downs6:16
8Reactionary Tango, Parts 1/2/38:45
9Soon I Will Be Done With the Troubles of This World6:59
The Life of a Trio: Saturday
1990 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 12 tracks · 45:37
1Clarinet Zone1:22
2Black Ivory4:27
3Owl Eyes5:28
4Endless Melody3:05
5Turns5:22
6Foreplay3:05
7We Agree2:04
8Clusters7:02
9December1:25
10Someone2:13
11Even Steven3:51
12By the Way6:13
The Life of a Trio: Sunday
1990 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 16 tracks · 1:06:39
1Sensing4:12
2Monique3:25
3The Gian Guitar and the Black Stick5:58
4Industrial Suite3:15
5Sanctuary Much3:47
6Tango Del Mar5:32
7The Hidden Voice3:06
8Mephisto4:04
9Where Were We4:50
10Sweet Song3:26
11Scrampbled Legs2:02
12Play Ball7:45
13Fallen Statue1:25
14Things3:35
15Two Singres3:52
16The Life of a Trio6:25
Fly Away Little Bird
1992 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 14 tracks · 1:16:39
1Fly Away Little Bird6:39
2Fits3:39
3I Can't Get Started4:50
4Qualude5:39
5Possibilities6:40
6Tumbleweed6:22
7All the Things You Are6:33
8Starts3:16
9Goodbye4:34
10Just Dropped By0:30
11Lover Man5:14
12Postlude4:51
13Sweet and Lovely6:26
14Bats in the Belfry11:26
Swallow
1992 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 51:16
1Belles4:04
2Soca Symphony8:08
3Slender Thread5:48
4Thrills And Spills4:12
5William And Mary5:53
6Doin' It Slow7:35
7Thirty Five5:53
8Ballroom5:17
9Playing With Water4:26
Go Together
1993 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 8 tracks · 52:32
1Sing Me Softly of the Blues5:48
2Mother of the Dead Man5:53
3Masquerade in 3 Parts: Carnation / Dark Glasses / Mustache13:04
4Ad Infinitum5:52
5Copyright Royalties6:27
6Peau Douce4:40
7Doctor4:20
8Fleur Carnivore6:28
Real Book
1994 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 49:39
1Bite Your Grandmother4:45
2Second Handy Motion4:50
3Wrong Together5:22
4Outfits5:55
5Thinking Out Loud5:09
6Let's Eat5:40
7Better Times3:52
8Willow4:15
9Muddy in the Bank3:23
10Ponytail6:28
Carla
1996 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 1:07:20
1Carla5:45
2Whirrr4:12
3Cry Want6:59
4Emphasis7:48
5Jesus Maria6:14
6Sonic5:17
7Trudgin’4:02
8The Gamut4:34
9Venture4:21
10Stretching Out (Suite for Germany)11:19
11In the Mornings Out There6:49
Conversations With a Goose
1996 · studio album
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Tracklist · 13 tracks · 58:40
1Conversations With a Goose5:10
2The Flock Is In1:58
3Echo Through the Canyon0:46
4Three Ducks1:06
5Watchin' the River5:18
6Campfire2:46
7Cobra10:11
8Among the High Rocks1:44
9White Peaks5:26
10Calls in the Night6:10
11Lonely Days5:40
12Jungle Critters8:31
13Restless3:54
Carla
1997 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 40:56
1Deep Trouble6:09
2Crab Alley3:47
3Fred and Ethel4:56
4Read My Lips4:54
5Afterglow6:01
6Hold it Against Me5:38
7Count the Ways3:49
8Last Night5:42
Deconstructed
1997 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 53:42
1Running in the Family5:13
2Babble On3:48
3Another Fine Mess6:51
4I Think My Wife Is a Hat5:48
5Bird World War3:25
6Bug in a Rug6:13
7Lost in Boston5:03
8Name That Tune5:42
9Viscous Consistency6:06
10Deconstructed5:33
Three Guys
1999 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 50:12
1It's You5:04
2Come Rain or Come Shine5:34
3Thingin'7:51
4Luiza4:10
5From Time to Time3:16
6Ladies' Waders5:40
7Johnny Broken Wing6:47
8Eiderdown6:13
9A Minor Blues in F5:37
Always Pack Up Your Uniform On Top
2000 · studio album
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Tracklist · 6 tracks · 47:35
1Bend Over Backward11:29
2Dog With A Bone6:13
3Misery Loves Company7:48
4Reinventing The Wheel7:49
5Feet First7:26
6La Nostalgie De La Boue6:50
Noisy Old Men
2002 · studio album
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Tracklist · 12 tracks · 53:37
1Descending Grace6:43
2Big Music7:04
3Vaguely Asian4:58
4Wake Up!1:28
5Radio5:12
6Lawyer's Dozen4:52
7Summer Band Camp4:37
8"Muff-It!"1:34
9Take Four7:22
10Cadence5:31
11Sounds for Ed1:51
12By the Way2:25
Nostalgia
2002 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks
1No Smoking
2Adam
3Please Let's Go
4Nostalgia
5For Us
6Winter Garden
7Steve Swallow
8Again With You
9Ninna Nanna
10New House
>trio<
2002 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 54:28
1Self Exiting Circuit4:23
2Brother J7:21
3I Fall Asleep Too Easily4:07
4After You've Gone5:14
5Exactly Backward5:06
6The Girl With the Hair (In All Directions)6:14
7It's Blue6:06
8Tossing and Turning7:14
9Gung Krrr6:00
10Here Comes Everybody2:43
Little Poems
2002 · studio album
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Tracklist · 15 tracks · 1:14:16
1Preghiera6:08
2Remembering the Blues3:45
3Singolari Equilibri6:50
4Monte ventoso9:28
5Lady Lazarus2:45
6Insomniac2:55
7Valzer lento6:50
8De La Musique4:18
9Memento8:50
10Three Improvisations: The Thin People / Spinster / Poppies in October3:24
11The Hanging Man3:06
12Mirror1:50
13Last Words4:04
14Petit Poème3:58
15On Board6:05
Grey
2002 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 51:39
1On Broadway8:02
2Hommage6:17
3Down by the Riverside5:53
4Light Blue4:48
5Blast From the Past5:56
6In a Sentimental Mood4:36
7Sufi Souffle2:02
8Boushouisha7:58
9Unspoken6:07
Live in Japan, Vol. 2
2004 · studio album
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Tracklist · 7 tracks · 53:35
1Lover Man6:16
2Bitter Home and Gardens6:38
3Super Jet6:00
4Ladies in Mercedes8:28
5I Waited for You6:07
6Confirmation13:20
7Emmanuel6:46
New Old Age
2005 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 52:09
1New Old Age4:36
2Struzzi cadenti5:08
3Vaguely Asian6:50
4Novalis3:38
5Q25:01
6Arise, Her Eyes6:39
7Evans Above5:46
8Hullo, Bolinas5:28
9Hotel Danubio9:03
Three For All
2006 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 57:58
1What Time Is It4:38
2Played Twice5:39
3We 36:22
4Up and Adam3:57
5The Jewish Warrior5:10
6Whistling Past the Graveyard4:32
7I Only Have Eyes for You5:34
8Cycling6:26
9All Blues4:54
10The Start of Something Small4:42
11BTU6:04
Awakening
2006 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 47:29
1Bello Corazon2:41
2Last Light5:09
3First Light1:28
4In A Moment3:10
5Awakening2:28
6Kymer3:42
7Melting7:54
8MTF6:07
9Paths6:28
10Prelude8:22
So There
2006 · studio album
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Tracklist · 18 tracks · 50:10
1Oh No0:34
2Names2:28
3Here Again2:29
4Ambition2:00
5Indians3:42
6Histoire De Florida1:04
7Sufi Sam Christian3:05
8Later2:04
9From Wellington, New Zealand / From Eight Plus4:08
10Miles3:28
11Just In Time2:46
12Return4:17
13Echo2:46
14Sad Advice3:07
15Riddle4:17
16Blue Moon4:12
17I Know A Man2:26
18A Valentine For Pen1:17
Two By Two
2007 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 57:55
1Gentle Thoughts4:01
2Two By Two3:51
3Remember5:56
4Wrong Together4:33
5Eiderdown5:33
6Lullaby5:47
7Ladies In Mercedes6:30
8Deep Tango6:31
9Poem For #156:39
10Mr Calypso Kuhn2:55
11Emmanuel5:39
Believe in Spring
2008 · studio album
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Tracklist · 11 tracks · 57:43
1You Must Believe in Spring4:59
2Carolina Moon4:40
3Soul Eyes7:33
4Get Happy5:01
5O Que Será5:39
6I'll Remember April5:09
7August 19724:34
8Falling Grace4:46
9Prelude / A Child Is Born6:20
10Broadway3:46
11Darn That Dream5:16
Swallow Songs
2008 · studio album
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Tracklist · 9 tracks · 52:58
1Away4:59
2Learn to Fall7:29
3Ballroom6:31
4Do Go On3:13
5Eiderdown9:20
6Seventeen Chords3:03
7Belles5:45
8Thirty-Five6:26
9Playing in Traffic6:12
Playing in Traffic
2009 · studio album
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Tracklist · 12 tracks · 46:49
1Playing in Traffic5:34
2Three Two You1:26
3Days of Old (intro)2:08
4Days of Old7:44
5Adam and Steve0:44
6Here Comes Everybody5:16
7Quiet Inside5:32
8Undress Under Duress6:15
9More Nuts1:13
10Warmer in Heaven5:42
11Too1:39
12Up Too Late3:36
Carla’s Christmas Carols
2009 · studio album
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Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:00:21
1O Tannenbaum2:28
2Away in a Manger5:53
3The Christmas Song5:16
4Ring Christmas Bells5:48
5God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Part One4:48
6God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Part Two5:18
7It Came Upon a Midnight Clear4:53
8Hell’s Bells5:14
9Jesus Maria8:29
10Jingle Bells3:05
11O Holy Night7:30
12Joy to the World1:39
Soyeusement - Live in Noirlac
2012 · studio album
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Tracklist · 8 tracks · 42:14
1Les Effets de Manche2:28
2Pane Caiente5:58
3Gorropu5:53
4A Trace of Grace6:40
5Soyeusement7:30
6Arrêt sur Image3:08
7Villa Erba6:27
8Beautiful love4:10
Agnostic Chant Book
2012 · studio album
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Tracklist · 12 tracks · 1:17:09
1Haunted Hunter9:25
2Advanced Search in Vicious Circles: I Uprooted7:03
3Advanced Search in Vicious Circles: II Void7:21
4Advanced Search in Vicious Circles: III Transition1:44
5Advanced Search in Vicious Circles: IV Extended Vocabulary9:20
6Haunted Hunter (reprise)4:13
7Halle-Luje7:58
8Cro Magnon Goes Cochem City9:22
9Dear Miss Jones Letter5:33
10Unhidden Track: Chasin The (demo)5:39
11Halle-Luje (radio edit)4:16
12Haunted Hunter (radio edit)5:15
Right Together
2013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 58:16
1Carnation5:54
2Lawns7:36
3Bug in a Rug4:30
4Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans5:56
5Isfahan5:53
6Wrong Together5:09
7Ladies in Mercedes4:33
8Scarante7:11
9Sail Away5:45
10My Little Brown Book5:49
Trios
2013 · studio album
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Tracklist · 5 tracks · 56:18
1Utviklingssang7:56
2Vashkar7:23
3Les Trois Lagons (d’après Henri Matisse)14:59
4Wildlife11:35
5The Girl Who Cried Champagne14:25
Willow: A Jazz Suite
2014 · studio album
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Tracklist · 17 tracks · 50:16
1Introducing1:18
2Muddy in the Bank4:45
3Ponytail4:44
4Interlude #10:19
5Thinking Out Loud2:35
6Interlude #20:46
7Sunset1:29
8Playing With Water3:45
9Hey Miss0:35
10Outfits2:00
11Better Times5:07
12In the Dark1:18
13Wrong Together7:02
14Let's Go0:41
15Please Let's Go3:21
16Falling Grace4:05
17Willow6:26
The New Standard
2014 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks
Disc 16 tracks
A1Clarissa
A2Minor Soul
A3Step Lively
B1Clearing
B2Trek
B3The New Standard
Disc 24 tracks
C1I See No Leader
C2Blue Shuffle
D1All Things to All People
D2Surrender the Chaise
Simple Songs
2014 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 11 tracks · 52:53
1Pas de deux tranquille4:37
2Monsieur Satie5:51
3Viennese Marketplace1:51
4Himmelblau3:49
5Let My Children Waltz3:26
6Lullaby for Moli4:43
7(F)all Blues4:59
8Mildred, Bim & Mohamed7:04
9Mein! Yours?5:39
10Is the Moon Still Blue?5:02
11Hymn to Health5:52
Singular Curves
2014 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 13 tracks · 56:32
1It Did4:25
2Ups and Downs5:59
3Carolina Moon5:13
4Get Lost4:38
5Then Again2:53
6Meli Melo6:25
7Now Four 22:44
87 Things6:02
9Parallel Fifths2:05
10Flight to Missoula4:20
11Anything You Want3:19
12Warp1:25
13You Go to My Head7:04
The Oldest Living Thing
2015 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks · 50:51
1The Oldest Living Thing5:32
2Sorrows and Joys of a Lamb6:25
3Helichrysum7:33
4Marmotte4:38
5Sunday Snow Flakes5:28
6Travel Back3:57
7Nuovo Cinema Paradiso3:15
8The Olive Tree of Noah4:06
9Loft4:13
10The Oldest Living Thing (Duo)5:44
Andando el tiempo
2016 · studio album
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Tracklist · 5 tracks · 47:19
1Andando el tiempo: Sin fin10:21
2Andando el tiempo: Potación de guaya9:49
3Andando el tiempo: Camino al volver8:28
4Saints Alive!8:35
5Naked Bridges / Diving Brides10:06
To and From the Heart
2018 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 6 tracks · 46:41
1Thinking Out Loud7:49
2Pure Imagination6:16
3Away6:00
4Never Let Me Go4:38
5Into the New World5:29
6Trance / Oceans in the Sky16:29
You Don’t Know the Life
2019 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 10 tracks
1Re: Person I Knew
2Dark Squares
3Water From Breath
4You Don’t Know the Life
5Ode to a Green Frisbee
6The Cloak
7Stable Manifold
8The Break of the Flat Land
9Moonlight in Vermont
10Alfie
Life Goes On
2020 · studio album
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Tracklist · 10 tracks · 56:39
1Life Goes On: Life Goes On6:00
2Life Goes On: On4:46
3Life Goes On: And On4:10
4Life Goes On: And Then One Day9:02
5Beautiful Telephones: I4:35
6Beautiful Telephones: II6:13
7Beautiful Telephones: III6:16
8Copycat: After You5:29
9Copycat: Follow the Leader0:17
10Copycat: Copycat9:51
Swallow Tales
2020 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 52:51
1She Was Young9:29
2Falling Grace5:24
3Portsmouth Figurations3:31
4Awful Coffee9:24
5Eiderdown7:10
6Hullo Bolinas4:11
7Away4:50
8In F4:30
9Radio4:22
Over the Rainbow
2021 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 13 tracks · 54:08
1Uneven Thinking6:52
2Waltz in Four4:35
3Forgotten Truth4:25
4Over the Rainbow8:09
5My Kind of Blues6:33
6On the Second Day2:11
7Some Other Time7:10
8Password5:28
9Say After Me Please2:20
10Sweak Spedish0:50
11One Step at a Time1:22
12Impatience2:31
13Temporary Agreement1:42
Winter Songs
2026 · studio album
Search Spotify Search YouTube Music
Tracklist · 9 tracks · 41:35
1One (Steve Swallow )4:27
2Two (Steve Swallow)4:39
3Three (Steve Swallow)3:09
4Four (Steve Swallow)4:52
5Five (Steve Swallow)4:46
6Six (Steve Swallow)5:24
7Seven (Steve Swallow)4:26
8Eight (Steve Swallow)5:11
9Nine (Steve Swallow)4:41

Album · 7

Album release groups, by first release date
Year	Title	Notes	First release
1995	Songs With LegsSearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 6 tracks · 54:19 1Real Life Hits8:09 2The Lord Is Listenin' to Ya, Hallelujah!7:48 3Chicken8:22 4Misterioso10:20 5Wrong Key Donkey12:02 6Crazy With You7:38	Live	1995
1999	Are We There Yet?Search Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 7 tracks · 47:36 1Major3:36 2A Dog’s Life7:15 3Satie for Two8:43 4Lost in the Stars5:16 5King Korn4:39 6Playing With Water4:42 7Musique Mecanique (Part I / Part II (At Midnight) / Part III)13:25	Live	21 June 1999
2001	Have We Told You All You'd Thought To Know?Search Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 12 tracks · 57:08 1Introduction1:34 2What's Heart To Say?8:28 3Blunted Efforts As The Distance6:41 4I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud4:29 5It Seemed Your Friend1:52 6Upon Reflection3:26 7I Was At The Door7:23 8I Like The Way1:40 9We're Here1:53 10Words Scattered17:13 11Mon Frère0:49 12Have We Told You All You'd Thought To Know?1:40	Live	2001
2003	Emphasis & Flight, 1961Search Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 18 tracks · 1:54:31 Disc 18 tracks · 51:55 1Whirrrr4:14 2Emphasis7:48 3Sonic5:17 4Venture4:21 5Jesus Maria6:14 6Stretching Out (Suite for Germany)11:19 7Carla5:45 8Cry, Want6:57 Disc 210 tracks · 1:02:36 1Call of the Centaur3:59 2Postures6:56 3Sonic5:21 4Goodbye5:55 5Stetching Out (Suite for Germany)11:12 6Cry, Want7:34 7Flight5:39 8That's True, That's True8:39 9Trance4:51 10Whirrrr2:30	Compilation	2003
2003	Damaged in TransitSearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 9 tracks · 55:20 1Item 1, D.I.T.6:24 2Item 2, D.I.T.7:15 3Item 3, D.I.T.6:08 4Item 4, D.I.T.6:35 5Item 5, D.I.T.7:19 6Item 6, D.I.T.6:04 7Item 7, D.I.T.4:49 8Item 8, D.I.T.4:56 9Item 9, D.I.T.5:50	Live	14 October 2003
2004	The Lost ChordsSearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 9 tracks · 54:01 13 Blind Mice5:34 2Wink Leak, Traps, Leonard Feather5:31 3The Maze, Blind Mice Redux4:15 4Hip Hip7:45 5Tropical Depression7:40 6Red6:04 7Lost Chords I9:07 8Lost Chords II4:24 9Lost Chords III3:41	Live	2004
2004	Live in Japan, Vol. 1Search Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 6 tracks · 52:31 1When Lights Are Low6:18 2Woody'n You10:25 3Passion Flower10:12 4I Love You Porgy10:54 5Oceans in the Sky8:26 6Airegin6:16	Live	15 December 2004

Broadcast · 2

Broadcast release groups, by first release date
Cover	Year	Title	Notes	First release
	—	1998-10-31: jazznojazz Festival, Theaterhaus Gessnerallee, Zurich, SwitzerlandSearch Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 9 tracks · 1:12:23 1[unknown]13:26 2Major3:45 3A Dog's Life7:34 4Satie for Two9:12 5Blues in Twelve Bars / Blues in Twelve Other Bars14:10 6Tropical Depression7:51 7King Cornet6:54 8Romantic Notion No. 3 / Walking Batterie Woman / Real Life Hits4:22 9Playing With Water5:09	Live	—
	—	The New Standard Trio: Festival Glatt & Verkehrt, Winzer Krems, 26.07.2015Search Spotify Search YouTube Music Tracklist · 5 tracks · 47:38 1I See No Leader17:25 2Blue Shuffle7:38 3The New Standard9:22 4Step Lively8:20 5Clearing4:53	Live	—

Stats & PK

Percentile within all 23,672 published artists.Put Steve Swallow head-to-head →

Steve Swallow metrics with percentile rank among published artists
Metric	Value	Percentile
Wikipedia language versions	16	74.5th
Spotify monthly listeners	—	no data
Release groups in DB	58	95.3th
Studio albums	49	99.2th
Awards recorded	0	0th
Timeline events	51	98.9th
Recording span (years)	52	92.5th
Genres	6	91th

Awards & honours

No awards recorded

No major awards are stored for this artist yet.

Browse the best-documented artists

Line-up

Band line-up and band memberships with dates
Name	From	To	Role
We3(band)	—	present
Steve Kuhn Trio(band)	—	present
The Impossible Gentlemen(band)	—	present
Steve Swallow Ohad Talmor Sextet(band)	—	present
John Scofield Trio(band)	—	present
The New Standard Trio(band)	—	present	original
Gary Burton Quartet(band)	—	present
Jazz in Trio(band)	—	present
Courage(band)	—	present
The Carla Bley Big Band(band)	—	present	bass
The Carla Bley Band(band)	—	present	bass
The Swallow Quintet(band)	—	present	bass,eponymous,original
Gary Burton & Friends(band)	—	present
Jeff Lederer \| Sunwatcher(band)	—	present	bass
Paul Motian and the Electric Bebop Band(band)	—	present	electric bass guitar
The Jimmy Giuffre 3(band)	1960	1962
Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra(band)	2015	present	bass

Where this record comes from

portrait—Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steve_Swallow.jpg
aliases/urls—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/d94cd4f9-3178-4cc5-9e96-c9306385ffb0
discography—musicbrainz · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://musicbrainz.org/artist/d94cd4f9-3178-4cc5-9e96-c9306385ffb0
core—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q708266
genre—wikidata · CC0 · retrieved 11 October 2026
https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q708266
seed-list—wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Swallow
biography—wikipedia-en · CC BY-SA 4.0 · retrieved 10 October 2026
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Swallow

Why this artist is in the database

List of jazz musicians

Tier rule: genre canon: jazz
Image: Natalia Dobryszycka Wrocław, Poland · CC BY 2.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Wikidata: Q708266 · MusicBrainz: d94cd4f9-3178-4cc5-9e96-c9306385ffb0

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Timeline

1940s

Born 1940-10-04

1970s

Debut release: We Could Be Flying

Album: We Could Be Flying

Album: Hotel Hello

Album: Unexpected

1980s

Album: Home

Album: Night-glo

Album: Duets

1990s

Album: The Life of a Trio: Saturday

Album: The Life of a Trio: Sunday

Album: Fly Away Little Bird

Album: Swallow

Album: Go Together

Album: Real Book

Album: Carla

Album: Conversations With a Goose

Album: Carla

Album: Deconstructed

Album: Three Guys

2000s

Album: Always Pack Up Your Uniform On Top

Album: Noisy Old Men

Album: Nostalgia

Album: >trio<

Album: Little Poems

Album: Grey

Album: Live in Japan, Vol. 2

Album: New Old Age

Album: Three For All

Album: Awakening

Album: So There

Album: Two By Two

Album: Believe in Spring

Album: Swallow Songs

Album: Playing in Traffic

Album: Carla’s Christmas Carols

2010s

Album: Soyeusement - Live in Noirlac

Album: Agnostic Chant Book

Album: Right Together

Album: Trios

Album: Willow: A Jazz Suite

Album: The New Standard

Album: Simple Songs

Album: Singular Curves

Album: The Oldest Living Thing

Album: Andando el tiempo

Album: To and From the Heart

Album: You Don’t Know the Life

2020s

Album: Life Goes On

Album: Swallow Tales

Album: Over the Rainbow

Album: Winter Songs

Biography

Biography

Biography

As leader/co-leader

Discography & profile

Normalised profile

Discography (58 release groups · 49 studio albums)

Albums · 49

Album · 7

Broadcast · 2

Stats & PK

Awards & honours

Line-up

Where this record comes from

Why this artist is in the database

Similar artists

Alphonso Johnson

Patrice Rushen

Ralph MacDonald

Lew Tabackin

Abdul Wadud