By Frank Housh
Sixty degree temperatures gave way to powerful, gusting winds Wednesday night carrying Veronica Swift and her band into Buffalo’s Kleinhans Music Hall’s Mary Seaton Room with a rock and roll energy that, at times, seemed to channel the late Freddie Mercury.
Swift is a child prodigy and a precocious talent. She is the daughter of renowned jazz pianist Hod O’Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian and she began performing and recording at nine years old. She said, “I grew up immersed in the culture of jazz music, blessed to have had some of the greats as mentors, and I felt a deep familial duty to uphold that tradition.”
Swift describes her self-titled release, Veronica Swift (2023) as “transgenre;” it includes traditional jazz, rock, funk, and opera, including Juliet’s “Je veux vivre” aria from Charles Gounod’s “Romeo and Juliet” (1867), performed as if it was at the Hot Club of France.
Wednesday night’s raucous concert with her accomplished, transgenre band including Carey Frank (keyboards, guitar), Gary Potter Jr. (guitar), Max Gerl (bass), and Brian Viglione (drums) included a diverse selection of the American Songbook, Nine Inch Nails, Queen, as well as Swift’s own compositions.
Swift is still finding herself as a songwriter as she plumbs the deep waters of Western music and her own seemingly bottomless reservoir of talent. For example, “In the Moonlight” begins with Beethoven’s famous piano phrase and becomes a 1980s rock power ballad, complete with distorted guitar solo.
Swift’s ambitious, “transgenre” style leans toward operatic drama. Comparisons with Queen’s late, great frontman Freddie Mercury were inescapable Wednesday night, as Swift prowled and pranced on the stage, engaging in costumed, dramatic poses with her bandmates.
A constant was Swift’s agile, precise scat singing. Her vocal improvisations moved from traditional jazz (“Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me”) to a distorted, second lead guitar in dialogue with Gary Potter Jr.’s blazing Les Paul on “Living in a Coma.”
February in Western New York has seen some remarkable jazz singers pass through. On Feb. 1, Gabrielle Cavassa stole the show with Joshua Redman in Rochester’s Hochstein Hall, and on Feb. 8., Cécile McLorin Salvant enchanted a near-capacity crowd at UB’s Slee Hall.
We may confidently add Veronica Swift to the list of artists who will be creating our musical future. Personally, I can’t wait to hear more.
SET LIST: Mary Seaton Hall at Kleinhans, Buffalo, February 28, 2024. (1) Born in a Trunk (Roger Edens & Leonard Gershe, 1954), (2) Closer (Nine Inch Nails, 1994), (3) Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me (Duke Ellington/ Sydney Russell, 1944), (4) Dreamer’s Ball (Brian May, 1978), (5) The Show Must Go On (Veronica Swift, 2023), (6) White Rabbit (Grace Slick, 1967), (7) Room With a View (Veronica Swift, 2023), (8) Living in a Coma (Veronica Swift, 2023), (9) Groove Lines (Veronica Swift, 2023) (10) Get Tough (Veronica Swift, 2023), (11) In the Moonlight (Veronica Swift, 2023), (12) Cry Me a River (Arthur Hamilton, 1953), (14) Sing (Dresden Dolls, 2006), (15) Keep Yourself Alive (Queen 1973), ENCORE: Don’t Rain on My Parade (Julie Styne & Bob Miller, 1964).
Critic Frank Housh writes for his own Substack at “The Media Room: The Arts in Real Life” as well as contributing the The Buffalo Hive. This review originally appeared on that site.