Singer Veronica Swift talks jazz and more ahead of Phoenix performance

“If you’re going to do anything in this world, especially as an artist, you’ve got to know where you come from.”

Veronica Swift, an accomplished jazz singer who also has chops in rock, opera, and much more, will soon be bringing her talents to Phoenix on a tour with the Django Festival Allstars. During this show, Arizona fans will find themselves back in another time as the performers take the stage on Nov. 18 at the Musical Instrument Museum. 

Swift’s journey started young, traveling and performing music that many of her peers didn’t understand or relate to. Though young people then couldn’t understand someone their age performing “old people music,” she’s found that her audience today is far more expansive than this age limitation.

“My audience is a lot of students,” Swift said. “It’s pretty balanced between old and young. If anything, I definitely see the value in the institutionalization of music in terms of academia and bringing it to students and younger people who didn’t grow up with it.” 

Swift is one of many classically inspired artists tasked with carrying the torch of many traditional genres into the future, a future that is not commercially prioritizing them. 

“There’s a fine line between changing the course of things and preserving the tradition. And I never really saw myself as someone who wanted to (only) preserve the tradition, because then that sounds like I’m just a museum piece, not a living, breathing thing.”

Originally, Swift prioritized jazz alone due to its familiar family history, job security and the overall pressure from the music business industry to pick a lane. It’s certainly not a decision she regrets, but growing as an artist has taken her to places and sounds outside of any rigid, traditional bounds. 

Classical styles of jazz and opera may not infiltrate much of mainstream consumption, as labels and popular appeal are heavily prioritized by the music business at large, but Swift has found a creative haven of sorts in blending and playing with styles, sometimes all on one record. 

Her 2023 self-titled album is a project she’s called “transgenre,” and features a wide array of all her influences and interests, ranging from jazz to opera and more. 

“An artistic person is somebody who is fueled by inspiration from things all around, creating and seeing what isn’t there and what could be,” Swift said. “And that lends itself to a lifetime of many projects. Just look at David Bowie: from record to record, he was a completely different artist, singer, musician, producer. That kind of growth, that change and evolution is necessary, that’s us being human.”

Though she’s bringing a modern twist to modern fans, Swift finds most inspiration in classics, but sees clear value in understanding and analyzing what’s popular today, and why. 

“Right now I’m on this kick from being super influenced by baroque music, and that’s feeding its way into my music, jazz and rock,” Swift said. “But I think it’s important, especially for musicians who are in a field that’s pretty niche, to listen to things today, objectively … listening to the things we don’t like is a good exercise, and actually gives us different ideas.”

“Je Veux Vivre,” an aria she arranged for her 2023 album, is among the tracks she’ll perform in Phoenix, and is one she’s particularly excited to do with the talented band behind her. She and the Django group performed first together over ten years ago at Birdland in New York, and now they tour together until December, when Swift heads to Chris Botti and Blue Note New York.

“If it’s a jazz show or a rock show or whatever … I can’t listen to music sitting down. That’s my one gripe about playing places with chairs,” Swift said. “I really want the music to lift people up to the point of lifting them out of their chairs, because this music is so danceable, too.

The Django Festival Allstars and Veronica Swift will perform two shows, at 7 and 9 p.m., on Tuesday, Nov. 18, at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix. Tickets can be purchased here.