Biography
Veronica Swift stands out as a refined jazz singer whose energetic delivery draws deeply from longstanding traditions. Having performed from an early age, she drew significant notice in 2015 by taking second place in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition and by releasing the album Lonely Woman. Her first project for Mack Avenue, the 2019 album Confessions, reached number five on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. On the stylistically wide-ranging 2021 release This Bitter Earth she interpreted jazz pieces, Broadway numbers, and indie-rock material.
Born in 1994 in Charlottesville, Virginia, Swift is the daughter of jazz pianist Hod O’Brien and jazz singer-educator Stephanie Nakasian. Exposed to the music early, she advanced rapidly and soon appeared onstage with her parents. At nine she made her first recording, Veronica’s House of Jazz, which included Hod O’Brien, Stephanie Nakasian, and saxophonist Richie Cole. Two years later she joined the Women in Jazz series at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York City; at thirteen she issued her second album, It’s Great to Be Alive, with saxophonist Harry Allen. Between 2013 and 2014 she continued her development at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
Wider recognition arrived in 2015 after her second-place finish in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition; that year she also brought out Lonely Woman with her band, featuring pianist Emmet Cohen. Subsequent appearances included a 2016 concert at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, a guest spot alongside Michael Feinstein at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and a headline set at the 2016 Telluride Jazz Festival. In 2017 she held a residency at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City and recorded the album Let’s Sail Away with saxophonist Jeff Rupert. Additional touring credits include work with pianist Benny Green, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and trumpeter Chris Botti.
Swift returned to Mack Avenue for Confessions, a 2019 collection of standards that featured Emmet Cohen and Benny Green and reached the top five on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. She followed it in 2021 with the genre-spanning covers album This Bitter Earth.
Born in 1994 in Charlottesville, Virginia, Swift is the daughter of jazz pianist Hod O’Brien and jazz singer-educator Stephanie Nakasian. Exposed to the music early, she advanced rapidly and soon appeared onstage with her parents. At nine she made her first recording, Veronica’s House of Jazz, which included Hod O’Brien, Stephanie Nakasian, and saxophonist Richie Cole. Two years later she joined the Women in Jazz series at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola in New York City; at thirteen she issued her second album, It’s Great to Be Alive, with saxophonist Harry Allen. Between 2013 and 2014 she continued her development at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami.
Wider recognition arrived in 2015 after her second-place finish in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition; that year she also brought out Lonely Woman with her band, featuring pianist Emmet Cohen. Subsequent appearances included a 2016 concert at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center, a guest spot alongside Michael Feinstein at Jazz at Lincoln Center, and a headline set at the 2016 Telluride Jazz Festival. In 2017 she held a residency at Birdland Jazz Club in New York City and recorded the album Let’s Sail Away with saxophonist Jeff Rupert. Additional touring credits include work with pianist Benny Green, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, and trumpeter Chris Botti.
Swift returned to Mack Avenue for Confessions, a 2019 collection of standards that featured Emmet Cohen and Benny Green and reached the top five on Billboard’s Jazz Albums chart. She followed it in 2021 with the genre-spanning covers album This Bitter Earth.
Singles
