John Swana And Friends (1991)

1.Before You

2.Darn That Dream

3.Out of My Dreams

4.You Don't Know What Love Is

5.Straight No Chaser

6.I Didn't Know What Time Is Was

7.The Pendulum at Falcon's Lair.

John Swana (trumpet, flugelhorn)

Bill Pierce (tenor saxophone)

Tom Harrell (trumpet, flugelhorn)

Mulgrew Miller (piano)

Billy Drummond (drums)

Ira Coleman (bass).

Sear Sound Studios, New York, NY (12/15/1991).

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 of11.

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 in the Philadelphia and New York areas with well known jazz names such as Don Patterson, Shirley Scott, Mickey Roker, Cecil Payne, Johnny Coles, Ralph Peterson, Charles Fambrough, Bobby Watson, Trudy Pitts, Bootsie Barns, Craig Handy, Chris Potter, Stephen Scott,Tim Warfield, Eric Alexander, Sam Newsome,Vincent Herring, Uri Caine, Peter Leitch Ralph Bowen,and Robin Eubanks. 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 based in Philadelphia.

John Swana can be heard on recordings with: Benny Golson, Grover Washington Jr., Charles Fambrough, Craig Handy, Tito Puente, Bill O'Connell, Lenny White, Ricky Sabastian, Marlon Simon, Ed Simon, Dave Valentin, Cafe', Art Webb,Adam Holtzman, Ralph Bowen, Ron Blake, Peter Bernstein, Carl Allen, Mulgrew Miller, Benny Green, Kenny Barron,Tim Warfield, Lewis Nash, Clarence Penn, Kevin Hays, Chris McBride, Uri Caine, Peter Leitch, Marvin "Smitty" Smith, Ralph Peterson, Bobby Zankel, and Tom Harrell.