Award-Winning Vocalist VERONICA SWIFT Releases New Single “Closer”
From September 15th Self-Titled Album on Mack Avenue Records Project Features Dazzling Interpretations Ranging from Musical Theatre & American Songbook Classics to Queen |
 Download Hi-res Press Photo here |
August 18, 2023: On the eve of the 30th anniversary of one of alternative rock's greatest anthems, Veronica Swift releases her interpretation of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer.” The track appears on her upcoming self-titled album. Swift crafted this fresh arrangement channeling Parliament funk with stabbing horns and pulverizing bass while adding a sensational bebop scat breakdown. “Closer” is available today, here. Veronica Swift is her third release with Mack Avenue Records and will be available on Vinyl, CD and digitally everywhere on September 15th. Pre-save the album Veronica Swift, here. View “Closer” here Stream “I Am What I Am” here “Closer” follows the album’s kickoff track, a glorious rendition of Jerry Herman’s “I Am What I Am.” For Swift, the song has become a declaration of artistic freedom, “I have immense gratitude for the artists and composers who have, in their own ways, risked it all to express themselves in their own words, i.e. The Puccinis, Freddie Mercurys, Nina Simones, Amanda Palmers, Beatles, and Janis Joplins of the world.” Swift continues, “I am what I am because of you.” Raised in Charlottesville, VA in a family of musicians – Swift’s father is the late bebop pianist Hod O’Brien and her mother is jazz singer and educator Stephanie Nakasian – Swift recorded her first album Veronica's House of Jazz when she was 9 years old and began touring with her parents around that time. At age 11 she appeared in the Jazz at Lincoln Center series Women in Jazz and went on to continue her studies at University of Miami’s Frost School of Music. After graduation she moved to New York City, performing Saturday nights at the legendary club Birdland. Swift has continued to record her own material while also collaborating and touring with such artists as Chris Botti, Benny Green, Wynton Marsalis, and Michael Feinstein. Swift describes her new recording as “transgenre.” “I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that tradition.” She continues, “But as rooted in jazz as I’ve been, there’s a uniquely visceral power in rock and soul music that’s always fueled my creative passion, and rather than mask or confine that part of my identity, the people I admire most show themselves unabashedly and that’s the kind of tradition I want to be a part of.” The album is co-produced by Swift along with Mariano Aponte and Brian Viglione of the punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls. Viglione also serves as drummer on the project. The collection is a love letter to all the artists through time that have inspired Swift and reflects her growing ‘transgenre’ ethos. Selections include the Duke Ellington and Bob Russell classic “Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me,” which Swift recasts as a Mississippi Delta blues burner, and a poignant extrapolation of Queen’s “The Show Must Go On,” which she underpins with infectious Afro-Cuban rhythms. The original composition “Severed Heads” is inspired by an excerpt of a Puccini opera, now turned bossa nova where her gentle vocals are reminiscent of young Judy Garland, and also showcases Swift’s incredible writing and arrangement talents. The project wraps deliberately with a wild free-for-all Ramones-esque version of “Don’t Rain on My Parade.” For the final track, Swift comments on the Funny Girl hit stating, “I bookend the album with another gay anthem, I’ll march my band out - I’ll beat my drum, which mirrors the lyrics from the first song, ‘I Am What I Am’ - I bang my own drum. To me the song has a super punk rock message in the lyrics, which really inspired my interpretation.” While her first two albums solidified her position in modern jazz, Veronica Swift shows that she’s more than a jazz singer. On this “transgenre” excursion Swift explores French and Italian opera, European classical music, bossa nova, blues, industrial rock, funk, and vaudeville. She pulls the feat off without the results sounding callow or pastiche. Swift’s expansive artistic voice remains firmly intact regardless of genre. Veronica Swift and her band will be on tour following the album’s release.  Download Hi-Res Album Art here
Veronica Swift Tracklist:
1. I Am What I Am
2. Closer
3. Do Nothing Till You Hear from Me
4. The Show Must Go On
5. I’m Always Chasing Rainbows
6. In the Moonlight
7. Severed Heads
8. Je Veux Vivre
9. Chega de Saudade
10. Keep Yourself Alive
Encore:
11. Don’t Rain on My Parade
Track listing note: “Don’t Rain on My Parade” does not appear on the vinyl release, but is included as a digital download with the vinyl package. It does appear on the digital and CD versions.
Veronica Swift on Tour
9/1/23 - Mackinac Island Jazz Festival - Mackinac, MI
9/3/23 - Detroit Jazz Festival - Detroit, MI
9/18/23 - The Cabaret - Indianapolis, IN
9/19/23 - The Cabaret - Indianapolis, IN
9/20/23 - Beachland Tavern - Cleveland, OH
9/21/23 - City Winery - Chicago, IL
9/22/23 - The Dakota - Minneapolis, MN
9/23/23 - The Howard - Osh Kosh, WI
10/12/23 - SFJAZZ Center - San Francisco, CA
10/17/23 - Pepperdine University - Malibu, CA
10/19/23 - Auburn University - Auburn, AL
10/21/23 - Middle C Jazz Club - Charlotte, NC
10/28/23 - Musikhuset Aarhus - Aarhus, DK*
10/29/23 - DR Concert Hall - Copenhagen, DK*
11/3-4/23 - Brass In Jazz - Real Teatro Santa Cecilia - Palermo, IT
11/7-8/23 - Duc de Lombards - Paris, FR
11/10/23 - Ronnie Scott’s - London, UK
12/30-31/23 - Eschio Estate - Umbria, IT
*performing with the Danish Radio Big Band
Follow Veronica Swift
|
Comments
Post a Comment