Born in Newark, NJ, Steve Swell has been an active member of the NYC music community since 1975. In the mid-seventies he studied with Roswell Rudd, Grachan Moncur III and Jimmy Knepper after attending Jersey City State Teacher’s College. He has toured and recorded with such diverse jazz personalities as mainstreamers Lionel Hampton and Buddy Rich, to so-called outsiders like Anthony Braxton and Jemeel Moondoc.
Swell has 30 recordings as a leader or co-leader and is a featured artist on more than a hundred other releases. He is also well known for his many collaborations with Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Alan Silva, William Parker, Elliott Sharp, Roswell Rudd, Tim Berne, Joey Baron, Ken McIntyre and his many projects including “Slammin’ The Infinite” with Sabir Mateen, The Ullmann/Swell 4tet featuring Barry Altschul, “Unified Theory Of Sound” with Cooper-Moore, “Fire Into Music with Hamid Drake and his large ensemble, Nation Of We. Steve has recorded for CIMP, Cadence, Clean Feed, Black Saint/Soul Note, Knitting Factory, Delmark, Drimala, Eremite, AUM, Splasc(H), Ayler, Braxton House, Nottwo, CDM, Tzadik, Kilogram, Thirsty Ear, Aesthetics, Ombu, Leo, New World, 577 Records, zOaR, GM, Avant, Koch, Gramavision, JMT, Kicking Mule, Newport Classics, Rossbin and Public Eyesore. Swell was a featured soloist in Anthony Braxton’s opera, "Shala Fears For The Poor".
He’s lead worshops at New England Conservatory, University of Indiana, University of Michigan, Tulane University, Union College (Schenectady), Norbert College (Wisconsin), Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati), Hocschule fur Musik (Dresden), Czech Jazz Workshop (Prague) and Guimares Festival Workshop (Portugal). Steve is listed in the Penguin Guide to Jazz, the Music Hound Guide to Jazz, Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, The All Music Guide to Jazz and the New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Swell has worked on music transcriptions of the Bosavi tribe of New Guinea for MacArthur fellow, Steve Feld in 2000. His CD, "Suite For Players, Listeners and Other Dreamers" (CIMP) ranked number 2 in the 2004 Cadence Readers Poll. He received grants from USArtists International in 2006 an MCAF (LMCC) award in 2008 and 2013 and has been commissioned twice on the Interpretations Series at Merkin Hall in 2006 and at Roulette in 2012. He was the Jazz Journalist’s Association Trombonist of the Year nominee for 2008 & 2011, named Trombonist of the Year 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2012 by El Intruso, an Argintinean Jazz journal and selected for the 2010, 2011, 2012 & 2013 Downbeat Critics Poll in the Trombone category.
Steve is a Teaching Artist in the NYC public school system working with special needs children and was awarded the 2008 Jubilation Foundation Fellowship Award of the Tides Foundation for recognition of that work.
William Connell (woodwinds/flute) Received a CAPS grant for orchestral composition in 1980. Has recorded with Chico Hamilton, various William Parker ensembles, including the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, the Walter Thompson Big Band, the composer's collective Commitment, and Steve Swell. He has performed and/or toured with Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Horace Tapscott, Sam Rivers' Winds of Manhattan, David Murray Big Band, Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton, Pharoah Sanders, Butch Morris, Roy Campbell, Billy Bang, Tito Nieves, Elton John, Ryan Adams, and many others.
As a copyist/arranger he has worked for major musicians in the new music, (i.e. Ornette Coleman, Julius Hemphill, Matthew Shipp), as well as in popular music,(i.e.Stevie Wonder, Roberta Flack, Michael Jackson, Simon and Garfunkel). His compositions have been recorded by Azar Lawrence,David Murray, and Don Pullen. He is currently a member of the composer's collective Silverback, featuring Frank Lacy,Newman Taylor Baker, and Hilliard Greene, his own ensemble Sadhana, with Vincent Chancey, French Horn, the Sound Vision Orchestra, Steve Swell's N.O.W. Ensemble, and Cecil Taylor's Orchestra. Mr. Connell has been profiled in The Dark Tree, a book about the Los Angeles Black Arts, written by Steven Isoardi, published by California University Press.
Reggie Nicholson (drummer, percussionist and composer) is a native of Chicago, Illinois. While performing with many musicians in Chicago, such as Jon Logan, Von Freeman, Vince Willis, Byther Smith, Fred Nelson III and Orbit Davis, Nicholson's reputation as an outstanding drummer was established. In 1979, Nicholson became a member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). During this time, Nicholson developed a musical relationship with all the members of the AACM including Muhal Richard Abrams, Steve McCall, Edward Wilkerson, Jr., Henry Threadgill, Phil Cohran, Joseph Jarman, Mwata Bowden, Ernest Dawkins, Douglas Ewart, Rita Warford, Amina Claudine Myers & Anthony Braxton.
Since relocating to New York City in 1988, Nicholson has performed with a wide variety of Jazz and New Music luminaries such as Don Pullen, Jon Hendricks, Billy Bang, Butch Morris, Reuben Wilson, Melvin Sparks, Abdullah Ibrahim, Sonny Rollins, Hamiet Bluiett, Myra Melford , Wilber Morris and Roy Campbell. Nicholson has performed in many noted festivals throughout Europe, Asia and the United States including, Chicago, North Sea, Saalfelden, Verona, Knitting Factory- NYC, Red Sea, Tampere, Moers, Nancy, just to name a few.
The instantly recognizable style and sound of his drumming and his music has elevated Nicholson as one of the most distinctive, inventive and inspirational composer and percussionist of his generation. Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune wrote,"Reggie Nicholson creating exquisite splashes of color and unmetered cascades on the drums." (Sept. 7, `98). Bill Kohlhaase of the LA Times wrote, "Drummer Reggie Nicholson not only provided the glue that held the various moods together, but soloed with the same purpose and tonal consciousness as the front line." (March 11, `96)
Currently, Nicholson is performing the music from his latest CD, THE REGGIE NICHOLSON CONCEPT - UNNECESSARY NOISED ALLOWED on the Abstract Recording label