Born in 1940, Steve Swallow was raised in New York and first took private lessons on piano and trumpet before switching to the string bass at the age of eighteen. In 1960, he joined the Paul Bley Trio and featured also in the first sextet formed by George Russell. Swallow and Bley were also part of the innovative Jimmy Giuffre Trio and the Art Farmer Quartet. He subsequently played for Stan Getz and in Gary Burton’s quartet. In 1970, he moved to live and write songs in Bolinas, California. He gave concerts in San Francisco, appearing with pianists Art Lande and Mike Nock. But in 1973, he returned to join Burton, and apart from the occasional interruption, has remained a loyal partner ever since. In the early sixties, Swallow belonged to the free jazz sce...