Steve Swell (born December 6, 1954 in Newark, New Jersey) is an American free jazz trombonist, composer, and educator.
Swell studied at Jersey City State Teachers College before moving to New York City in 1975 where he began his musical life, playing in top 40 bands, salsa bands, big bands (most notably those of Buddy Rich and Lionel Hampton) and performed on Broadway in Bob Fosse's Dancin'. 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.
In 2016, Swell earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the State University of New York.
He is greatly influenced by Roswell Rudd, with whom he studied in the mid-1970s. He was also a student of Grachan Moncur III and Jimmy Knepper.
Swell has led a number of projects, including the groups Slammin' the Infinite (ft. Sabir Mateen, Matthew Heyner, Klaus Kugel), Fire Into Music (ft. William Parker, Jemeel Moondoc, Hamid Drake), Unified Theory of Sound (ft. Cooper-Moore, Matt Lavelle) and his large ensemble, Nation of We (a.k.a. NOW Ensemble).
Swell has received a number of awards including a USArts International (NEA) travel grant in 2006, grants from MCAF (LMCC) in 2008 and 2012, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant. He was nominated for Trombonist of Year in 2008, 2011, and 2020 by the Jazz Journalists Association, and respectively, in 2008-2010, 2012, 2014-2021, and 2023, by the Argentine jazz journal El Intruso. In 2008, he received a fellowship award from the Jubilation Foundation of the Tides Foundation for his work in the New York City public school system. He was selected by the DownBeat Critics Poll for the Trombone category from 2010-2023. He also received the 2014 Creative Curricula grant and the 2020 Creative Engagement grant for performances in Manhattan, both from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Swell is an inaugural recipient of a Jazz Road Tours grant from South Arts, which begun in 2019. In 2021, Swell received the City Artists Corps Grant (NYC).
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 Samo Salamon
With Alan Silva
With Cecil Taylor
With Ken Vandermark
With Tom Varner