John Swana, trumpet

“John Swana is one of the most exciting trumpeters to arrive for a decade”, declares Mark Gardner, co-author of Blackwell’s Guide to Recorded Jazz.

Born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia, Swana took up Trumpet at the age of 11.  He was drawn to jazz at the age of 17 after hearing Dizzy Gillespie, and the interest developed into a passion while he was in college.  There he began transcribing the solos of Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis and Tom Harrell.  

Swana has performed and toured with the Mingus Big Band.  Swana has performed in the Philadelphia and New York areas with well known jazz names such as Stanley Turrentine, Harold Mabern, Cecil Payne and Johnny Coles.  He has also been heard with Freddie Hubbard, Phil Woods, Ronnie Cuber, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Clark Terry, Frank Foster, John Faddis, Slide Hampton, J.J. Johnson, Bob Minzer, and Charlie Persip as a member of the Joe Sudler Swing Machine, a 16-piece big band in Philadelphia.