Veronica Swift

Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Veronica Swift grew up immersed in jazz as the daughter of pianist Hod O’Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian, and she began performing with them at an early age. She recorded her first album, Veronica’s House of Jazz, in 2004 and followed with It’s Great to Be Alive! in 2007, before studying jazz voice at the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, from which she graduated in 2016. Her trajectory is rooted in vocal jazz, bebop and straight‑ahead jazz, characterized by highly articulated singing, a strong sense of phrasing and attention to standards as well as the swing of small acoustic ensembles. In 2015 she released Lonely Woman and placed second in the Thelonious Monk competition. After relocating to New York, she performed notably at Birdland and developed her presence on the American jazz scene while working with musicians such as Benny Green, Chris Botti, Michael Feinstein and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under Wynton Marsalis. Her discography continued with Confessions in 2019, This Bitter Earth in 2021 and Veronica Swift in 2023, the latter showing a broader repertoire without abandoning her jazz roots.