Earl Swope

Earl Bowman Swope (* August 4, 1922 in Hagerstown (Maryland ); † January 3, 1968 in Washington, DC) was an American jazz trombonist.

He played in 1942 with Sonny Dunham, 1943/44, in Boyd Raeburn, at Georgie Auld and Don Lamond (1945 ). 1946/47, he was with Buddy Rich, from 1947 to 1949 with Woody Herman and His Orchestra in the Second Herd ( he was there with soloist Bill Harris) and recorded in small groups with Stan Getz and Serge Chaloff. In the 1950s, he was 1950/51 with Elliot Lawrence, worked as a freelancer in Washington DC and New York, in 1957 in the big band of Jimmy Dorsey, with Lee Castle, from 1959 Louie Bellson. In the 1960s, he played locally in Washington DC

He also grew, with Boyd Raeburn, Woody Herman, Lennie Tristano (1945, Lost Session by Swope ), Charlie Parker ( Washington Concerts 1948 and 1952 /53), Willis Conover ( Willis Conover 's House of Sounds: Presents THE Orchestra, 1953), Sonny Berman, Louis Bellson, Bill Potts ( Lester Young in Washington, DC, in 1956 with the Bill Potts Trio), Dizzy Gillespie (1955, One Night in Washington) and Charlie Byrd (1962 ) on.

Swope was influenced by Lester Young and grabbed the Bebop independent of JJ Johnson on ( and was one of the few trombonists, which was then an independent style of JJ Johnson claimed ) and was considered a virtuoso on his instrument, in a very individual soft, rolling, relaxed Southern - style in the opinion of Al Cohn, who played with him at Herman. He was a musician from the jazz area of Washington DC

He was the brother of jazz trombonist Rob Swope (1926-1967), with whom he also played a lot.

Lexical entry

• Carlo Bohländer et al Reclams Jazz guide, 1989