Born
in Wolverhampton, Dave Swift was influenced by his two older brothers
who both played guitar at home, motivating
him to take
up a musical instrument himself starting off with his brother’s
acoustic and electric guitars. It wasn’t until he was 14
that he decided to take music seriously, and choose an instrument
that he was really passionate about.
Deciding on the
trombone, he started having lessons at school, and it wasn’t
long before he was playing in every concievable type of band. Shortly
afterwards he and some friends formed their own band but needed
a bass guitar player. Having had some experience – albeit
limited to playing a bit of guitar - Dave volunteered, as he was
the only one who’d had any experience with a stringed instrument...read
the full biography here.
While the UK has produced some of the world’s finest rock, pop and jazz
musicians few get the kind of high-profile exposure acclaimed session bassist
Dave Swift has. Through his long-term gig with ex-Squeeze vocalist and pianist
Jools Holland, himself a world renowned recording artist, Dave has played
with just about every major name in contemporary music be it Tom Jones, Paul
Weller or Jamiroquai through to some of the giants of the 20th century like
George Benson, Eric Clapton, Al Jarreau, Chaka Khan, Jeff Beck or BB King – Dave
has laid down his immaculate and grooving bass lines for them all – live
on TV and in the studio. Still busy touring and recording constantly with Jools
and other sessions both live and in the studio music writer and journalist
Mike Flynn met Dave to talk about his life in music and the path he took into
the top echelons of the music world.
Dave was recently interviewed for EBS Sweden's web blog about his bass playing and long standing involvement with Jools Holland Rythm & Blues Orchestra. Click here to read the full interview.
Read Dave's in-depth answers to living and working as a top sessions musician
here...
