“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.
Veronica’s newest collection of music is entitled “Home”. The album’s story takes us on Veronica’s journey from growing up on a farm in Greater Appalachian Virginia, losing her childhood home in a house fire and her father to cancer, as she catapults her Jazz career and moves to New York City, ultimately leading to her expansion of musical horizons out west where she ultimately finds love and peace as heals the wounds of her past.
Its song selections touch on the wide spectrum of what ‘home’ means to people, whether it is where you come from, where you live, or where you see yourself in the future. Some are running from home, and some run back. With songs like I Miss the Mountains, Home from ‘The Wiz’, and I’m Comin’ Virginia, Swift explores longing to return to her beloved Appalachia, where Zeppelin’s Going to California, Billy Joel’s You’re my Home celebrate her new life with Brian Viglione as a Californian. The album’s epilogue, Simon and Garfunkel’s America, harkens to her message on This Bitter Earth, pondering her place in the country that is her home, and the complex challenges of this time as we question our roots.
It features the finest young voices in Jazz with Mathis Picard on piano, Philip Norris on bass, Kyle Poole on drums, and special guests Benny Benack III on trumpet, Dave Eggar on cello, and Phil Faconti on guitar.