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Artist
Nelda Swiggett
10+ albums
female vocalistsjazzseattlesingerartist - Nelda Swiggett
about
Pianist Nelda Swiggett is an active performer and composer on the Seattle music scene. She formed her first band in 1990, and has since performed at many of Seattle’s leading clubs, concerts and festivals, including the Earshot Jazz Festival, Bumbershoot, and a KPLU-FM Summer Jazz Cruise, among others. Whether swinging hard with her jazz trio, grooving to salsa and Afro-Cuban rhythms at the Latin club, or laying down soulful gospel riffs at her local church, you can count on Nelda’s strong musicality and creative rhythmic sense. After graduating from high school, Nelda entered the University of Washington as a classical piano performance major and a serious downhill ski racer – an unlikely combination that ended abruptly with a major ski accident and two months of traction in a hospital bed at Harborview. Piano was out of the question, but a guitar and flute helped wile away the hours. One day, an internist on his rounds picked up Nelda’s flute and began to improvise. He brought in recordings of jazz rhythm sections that he could play along with, and her hospital room became a jazz venue for passing doctors, nurses and patients. Soon she was learning to improvise herself. In 1990, Nelda formed the Room to Move Sextet, with a three-horn front line featuring trumpet, tenor sax, and trombone. The band’s CD recording of original compositions, No Time for Daydreams, received extensive airplay on Seattle’s jazz stations as well as national and international airplay. In 1998, her ta
