Steve Swallow

[king ubu]

I always thought Swallow *was* "laying it down" - he just doesn't use the low range of the bass that often, to do it, but I'd find it difficult to point out a contemporary bassist who "lays it down" as uniquely recognizable and as groovy, as Swallow does!

I agree on "Deconstructed", by the way. I first got "Always Pack Your Uniform on Top" and loved that one a bit better - just because I had it first, I guess.

Also the discs with Carla Bley & Andy Sheppard ("Songs with Legs" and more recently, with Billy Drummond added, "The Lost Chords") are very nice!

[ep1str0phy]

i think country roads might be the highlight of swallow's career, IMO.

i am not a fan of his.

i think he does a crappy job of being a bassist.

he's a good musician but a bad bassist.

he's kind of like eberhard weber in that a band could have him plus another bassist actually laying it down and they probably wouldn't get in each others way...

I agree that Swallow can come across as a sort of destabilizing element in many contexts (especially in terms of his electric output), but I find his earlier acoustic work to be rather strong (and balanced, for that matter). Basra, Ezz-thetics, and the earlier Giuffre sides are gems (IMO).

[B. Goren.]

I like the duets he recorded with Carla Bley.

[Bright Moments]

i really enjoyed this one:

one of the highlights for me was the play of ryan kisor on trumpet. why haven't we heard more about him here?

I touted this CD 2 1/2 years ago in this thread.

Someone finally agrees.

yes - and how about that ryan kisor on trumpet!

but how about that ryan kisor on trumpet?

[jlhoots]

Yep - Ryan Kisor.

[RDK]

For something different, try HOME, Swallow's settings for Robert Creeley's poems, sung by Sheila Jordan accompanied by Lyle Mays, Steve Kuhn, Dave Liebman, and Bob Moses.

Agreed!

[milestones20]

I have to throw in "Real Book." It may not be his most chance-taking record, but I really dig the band, plus I prefer Tom Harrell to Ryan Kisor (not to talk s*** on Ryan, though!).

[Aggie87]

Anybody have this one?

I've picked it up a couple of times and almost bought it, and always put it back for some reason. Looks interesting.

[Larry Kart]

I'm not a big Swallow fan (liked him more in his ancient days as a acoustic bassist), but I enjoyed that Talmor-Swallow album quite a bit. Maybe that makes me a Talmor fan; the references in his writing to Stravinsky's "L' Histoire du Soldat" (the album is balanced more toward writing than blowing) don't come across as the post-modern trickery you might expect but as acts of genuine affinity. Also, one of the semi-incidental reasons I like the album is that Swallow's bass is recorded more clearly than is usually the case in my non-comprehensive experience of his work.