Veronica Swift


Veronica Swift is an American jazz and bebop singer.

Early life

Swift was raised in Charlottesville as part of a family of musicians. Her parents are late jazz pianist Hod O'Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian. At the age of nine, she recorded her debut album, Veronica’s House of Jazz, featuring Richie Cole playing with her fathers rhythm section. She began touring with her parents at this time as well. At age eleven, she appeared in the series Women in Jazz at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola; At the age of 13, she released her second album, It's Great to Be Alive, on which saxophonist Harry Allen also played.
Swift earned her bachelor's degree in jazz voice in 2016 from the University of Miami's Frost School of Music. While there, she composed a goth-rock opera entitled Vera Icon about a homicidal nun. Swift says she "needed an outlet for the anger" she felt at her father's cancer, and needed a more dramatic genre to express the emotion. Her 2015 album, Lonely Woman, includes two songs with her father at the piano and may represent the last recording by Hod O’Brien, who died in 2016. Swift placed second at the 2015 Thelonious Monk Competition. Following graduation, she moved to New York City, where she played Saturday nights at the Birdland jazz club.

Career

She also starred with Chris Botti, Benny Green, and Michael Feinstein. She toured with Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. In the opinion of Bill Milkowski, she has a perfect pitch and phrasing. In the field of jazz, Tom Lord counts ten recording sessions in which she was involved between 2004 and 2019. In 2019, she went on tour with the Benny Green Trio.

Awards and honors

Solo
Appearances