May 3, 2022 12:38 PM
Ron Carter Reminisces on the Eve of 85th Gala
On May 10, the iconic bassist-composer Ron Carter will be fêted in an 85th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. With…
Veronica Swift is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
(Photo: Bill Westmoreland )Singer Veronica Swift returned home from a gig in Italy just in time to celebrate the birthday of her mother, acclaimed jazz singer and educator Stephanie Nakasian.
On Aug. 28 Swift, billed as one of “The Three Divas,” had played a sold-out, socially distanced concert in the Boboli Gardens at the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, Italy, as part of the Uffizi Galleries’ New Generation Festival. Nakasian’s birthday party was held two evenings later at the family farm in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“I’m having an emotional crash after one of the most amazing weeks of my life,” Swift told DownBeat by phone the day of the celebration. The concert was just the kind of spectacle that Swift likes: an eclectic amalgam of opera, jazz, big band, tap dancing and musical theater.
If she was having a tough time coming down from a performance high, though, her phone demeanor belied it. During the interview, she spoke confidently about her album, This Bitter Earth, her second Mack Avenue release, and mused about the new challenges and opportunities that young singers are taking on today. From her poise in discussing these issues, it’s clear that global success rests easily on Swift’s shoulders.
Swift’s star rose surprisingly fast. She first stepped into public awareness with her second-place finish (behind Jazzmeia Horn) in the 2015 Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Vocals Competition. The following year, she would graduate from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami. Relentless gigging followed—in the world’s best jazz clubs, at prestigious jazz festivals, with celebrity-led ensembles. She signed with Mack Avenue and the label released her 2019 album, Confessions, which dazzled audiences and critics alike. All this by the age of 25.
Bassist-composer Ron Carter turns 85 on May 4.
May 3, 2022 12:38 PM
On May 10, the iconic bassist-composer Ron Carter will be fêted in an 85th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall. With…
Meghan Stabile was the founder of Revive Music Group.
Jun 21, 2022 11:37 AM
Meghan Stabile, a promoter, presenter and producer, died on June 12 in Florida at age 39. The apparent cause was…
“I have no concept of what I did before! That’s irrelevant,” Ibrahim said. “I can’t change anything. I can’t change the past, I can’t change the future, I can only deal with what is now.”
May 9, 2022 2:52 PM
It is 2022. The pandemic lingers, yet life is moving forward in unexpected ways.
The necessary move to video…
The Detroit Jazz Festival has announced its lineup for Labor Day weekend during a livestream preview event that included a live performance from the 2022 Artist-in-Residence Chucho Valdés.
May 24, 2022 10:25 AM
The Detroit Jazz Festival has announced its lineup for Labor Day weekend during a livestream preview event that…
Bounce pioneers Mannie Fresh and Big Freedia and other guests join Galactic on “Act Like You Know.”
May 31, 2022 12:07 PM
Anyone who has spent time in New Orleans knows why it is also known as The City That Care Forgot. Between the music and…