Neil Swainson
Acoustic Bass
About
Neil Swainson is an acoustic bassist, composer, and educator based in Toronto, Ontario. A four-time Juno Award winner as a sideman, he is best known for his twenty-five-year partnership with pianist George Shearing, with whom he toured internationally from 1986 until Shearing's death in 2011. His debut album as a leader, 49th Parallel (1987, Concord Jazz), featured Woody Shaw and Joe Henderson and became Shaw's last studio recording. After a thirty-five-year hiatus from recording as a leader, he returned with Fire in the West (2022) and Here For A While (2024), both on Cellar Live, the latter earning a Juno Award nomination. He has performed with Diana Krall, Mel Torme, Ed Bickert, Rob McConnell, and Kirk MacDonald, and currently teaches in the bass department at Humber College in Toronto.
Trivia
Swainson is largely self-taught on the bass, having picked up the instrument in high school and learning primarily by ear. As a teenager, he played a gig with saxophonist Sonny Stitt, who afterward asked if he played piano. When Swainson said no, Stitt replied simply: "Learn." That advice became a guiding principle of his career, and he now gives the same counsel to his students at Humber College. His 49th Parallel album was reissued in 2020 by Cellar Music Group after years of being nearly impossible to find.
Early Life
Neil Swainson was born on November 15, 1955, in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He discovered the acoustic bass during high school and was largely self-taught, developing his skills by backing visiting American jazz musicians who passed through Victoria, including Herb Ellis, Barney Kessel, and Sonny Stitt. In 1975, he joined the Paul Horn Quintet, touring with the group for two years. He spent a year in Vancouver before relocating permanently to Toronto in 1977, where he quickly integrated into the city's jazz scene, working with Ed Bickert, Rob McConnell, Moe Koffman, and other leading Canadian musicians. He later earned a music degree from Humber College, where he now serves as a professor in the bass department.
Neil Swainson Solos
2022
Acoustic Bass solo - Someone To Watch Over Me - 2022
4/4 ballad in Dâ™ major at 55 BPM
Acoustic Bass solo - Outbreak - 2022
4/4 swing in D minor at 278 BPM
Acoustic Bass solo - Wonder - 2022
3/4 waltz in D major at 138 BPM