Veronica Swift is hip. She's no square. She's alert, awake, and aware. She's also coming to Australia for the very first time.
The 24-year-old jazz vocal prodigy makes her Australian debut with a tour that includes Sydney International Women's Jazz Festival.
The daughter of pianist Hod O'Brien and singer Stephanie Nakasian, Veronica has lived and breathed the jazz life since she was born. “I practically grew up in jazz clubs, except I was the four-year-old kid sitting at the bar with a colouring book and a Shirley Temple, that was me,” Veronica laughs.
Her Australian visit comes at the tail-end of what has been an extremely productive year for Veronica, including the release of her album 'Confessions', her first on the esteemed Mack Avenue Records label.
“It's my fourth album as leader, but it's the first record I've had that's going to be introduced globally on a grand scale,” she says.
“Also, it's been a big year because I was in Marciac with Wynton Marsalis to perform with his quintet because usually when I perform with Wynton it's with the big band, the orchestra, which is amazing too but to make music with him in a more intimate setting is truly incredible. That was probably one of my highlights for this year.”
Few artists her age can boast the skill Veronica possesses, not in the least with her lyricism. Take her version of 'I'm Hip' (by Dave Frishberg and Bob Dorough) for example, where she gives the song a fresh millennial take by name-checking Lady Gaga.
“You always have to do that in certain songs you perform, as long as you don't sacrifice the original integrity of the song or the composers,” she says.
Veronica's Australia tour will take her to Melbourne, Sydney and Perth during November, with Perth holding a special place in the young artist's life. “What I'm most looking forward to is reconnecting with my old friends, because I went to the University Of Miami, which has a sister programme in Perth at Edith Cowan,” she says.
“I'm really excited to reconnect with my friends who I haven't seen in five or six years and that's the greatest part about this business. Yes, the travelling is a blessing and a curse but this is the blessing part of it.”
Australian audiences will likewise be blessed when Veronica takes to our stages with her affable charm and remarkable voice.
“Any time an artist is singing or playing music that's true, especially lyrically, if it speaks true to that person I think it will always go over well because the audience members can sense BS,” she laughs, “and if someone is being vulnerable – here I am, this is me – I think it always goes over well.
“The arrangements I write tend to instil a lot of drama and theatre aspects in the music, so that of course also helps give the audience a sense of the story and plot. Whenever you see one of my shows, it is very much a straight-ahead jazz concert but there's always a theatrical aspect.”
