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Revision as of 09:36, 6 June 2021

LaurieNorton1
Birth nameAdam Swanson
Born1992
Flint, Michigan
GenresRagtime,Novelty ragtime,Trad jazz,Western swing,St. Louis blues,Kansas City blues,Memphis blues,New Orleans blues,Jump blues,Boogie-woogie,Dixieland,Stride jazz,Swing,Texas blues,Delta blues,
Occupation(s)Pianist, composer, historian/lecturer on 20th century American Popular music
Instrument(s)Piano
LabelsRivermont Records

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LaurieNorton1

Adam Swanson (born 1992, Flint, Michigan) is a pianist of vintage American popular music, specializing in ragtime, early jazz, and the Great American Songbook. He is the only four-time winner of the World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest and has been a featured performer and lecturer at ragtime and jazz festivals across the United States and internationally.

Childhood Years

Swanson started playing piano in 2002 at the age of ten and within a year progressed to win the junior division of the 2003 World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, becoming its youngest champion ever. He went on to win the junior division two more times and in 2008 became the youngest ever to win the adult World Championship. After subsequent victories in the 2009 and 2010 contests, Swanson returned to the event in 2015 to become the only four-time adult world champion in the competition's forty-six year history.[1][2]

Formal Musical Education

Swanson studied under Waleed Howrani, a graduate of the Moscow Conservatory and student of Emil Gilels, later receiving his Bachelor of Arts in classical piano from Fort Lewis College in 2014 where he was tutored by Dr. Lisa Campi. In 2016 he was awarded a masters in musicology from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University where he worked with noted musical historian Dr. Susan Weiss.[3]

Professional Career

In 2007, Adam Swanson was featured with the late John Arpin at the Bohem Ragtime and Jazz Festival in Hungary, and he has played multiple concerts in Switzerland and Australia and also performed at numerous music festivals and concert venues throughout the United States.[4] He appeared with Michael Feinstein at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2012 and has accompanied silent films at the Cinecon Classic Film Festival at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood. In 2013, Swanson performed on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage in Washington, D.C.[5][6]

In 2009, Terry Waldo referred to Swanson in "This Is Ragtime"[7] as "already a headliner at the age of 16," and that same year, Larry Karp in "The Ragtime Fool" described Swanson as "at age 17, already a first-line ragtime performer and historian." [8]More recently,'Perfessor' Bill Edwards on RagPiano.com said Adam "has been and continues to be the future of ragtime."[9] After meeting Swanson, the 1940's piano child prodigy "Sugar Chile" Robinson credited him with being "another musical genius,[3]

Swanson has released six solo and six collaborative CD collections of ragtime and popular American music. The latter include albums with pianist Frederick Hodges; former rock star and ragtime composer Ian Whitcomb; the Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra; Jeff Johnson and the Redcliff Rounders; Grammy award-winning drummer Danny Coots; and 1950s recording artist Johnny Maddox.[10]

Some of Adam's solo recordings have been used on the CBC TV show Murdoch Mysteries.[11] He also provided the piano accompaniment for “Western Surprise,” a short, modern-day western parody, black and white silent movie available on YouTube.[12]

Adam Swanson is featured as "The Prodigy" in the 2012 movie “The Entertainers,” described by Amazon Prime Video as “an award-winning feature documentary about six piano players striving to win the World Championship of Old-Time Piano.”[13]

Swanson's performances have been viewed millions of times on YouTube, where some of his presentations on the history of ragtime and American popular music are also available.[14] The latter include seminars on the life and music of his mentor Johnny Maddox and on other ragtime artists and composers, one of whom is the former British rock star and ragtime composer Ian Whitcomb. Swanson helped Whitcomb produce and present "My Life in Ragtime," a retrospective of Whitcomb's career which the two artists presented at the 2017 West Coast Ragtime Festival. In the YouTube video of the event, Swanson performs several original Whitcomb rags.[15][16]

Swanson has performed regularly for many years at the classic Diamond Belle Saloon in Durango, Colorado, where he first met Johnny Maddox in 2004.

Johnny Maddox as a Mentor

Beginning his professional career at a young age led to Swanson's being mentored by older, more experienced performers including Bob Milne, Jeff Barnhart, Max Morath, Bob Seeley, Terry Waldo, Richard Dowling, and Peter Mintun, however, Johnny Maddox proved to have the greatest influence on him.[3][17]

In 2004, when Swanson was twelve, he played for Maddox who in the 1950s had released the first million-selling, all-piano record. Maddox was impressed with the youngster and invited him to visit his Tennessee home, something Swanson ended up doing every summer for the next ten years. Despite their sixty-five year age difference, the two developed a close relationship and a mutual respect which intensified Swanson's interest in early 20th century American popular music and led to his becoming an expert on ragtime in general and on Maddox in particular.[18]

Swanson has conducted seminars on these subjects at many ragtime festivals. Before his passing in 2018, Maddox would occasionally join Adam on stage for interviews during such presentations.[15] In 2015, Maddox told his Gallatin, TN hometown paper that Swanson was “carrying on where I left off [and] helping to keep ragtime alive,” and in an interview upon his retirement in 2012, the now-deceased artist told the Durango Herald that Swanson could "make a piano knit a pair of socks."[19]

Discography

2008: On a Circular Staircase (solo CD)

2009: Seven Little Stars (And the Man in the Moon) (w Johnny Maddox)

2010: Double Trouble: Hot Piano Duets (w Frederick Hodges)

2011: Sunshine from the Fingers (solo CD)

2011: I Love a Piano (w Ian Whitcomb and Danny Coots) (27)

2013: Rare and Rip-Roarin’ Rags of 1912 (solo CD)

2014: SouthWestern Swing (w Jeff Johnson and the “Redcliff Rounders”)

2014: Jazz Nocturne (solo CD)

2015: Hum All Your Troubles Away (w Danny Coots)

2018: Revival Ragtime (solo CD)

2019: Jazzin’ the Blues Away (w The Peacherine Ragtime Society Orchestra)

2019: “An Evening in the Diamond Belle Saloon” (solo two-CD set)

Awards

2003: Youngest winner ever, World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, Junior Division

2004, 2006: Winner, World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, Junior Division

2008: Youngest winner ever, World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest, Adult Division

2009, 2010: Winner World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest

2015: First and only four-time winner, World Championship Old-Time Piano Playing Contest

References

  1. "The Syncopated Times". Syncopated Times. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  2. Old Time Piano Contest - Past Winners". Old Time Piano Contest. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  3. Norton, L. (2019, November 15) Skype interview.
  4. "Bohem Ragtime and Jazz Fesztival". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  5. "Michael Feinstein, Kate Baldwin, Adam Swanson, Rob Berman Conjure Tin Pan Alley Classics in NYC Feb. 29". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  6. "Kennedy Center Artists - Adam Swanson". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  7. Waldo, Terry (2009). This is ragtime. Eubie Blake, Wynton Marsalis (First edition of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Library Editions republication ed.). New York. ISBN 978-1-934793-01-5. OCLC 470701120.
  8. Karp, Larry (2010). The ragtime fool : [a mystery]. Scottsdale, Ariz.: Poisoned Pen Press. ISBN 978-1-59058-699-0. OCLC 586061084.
  9. "Individual Ragtime Artists". Rag Piano. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  10. "Adam G Swanson - Albums". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  11. "Visiting Artist - Adam Swanson". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  12. "Western Surprise". YouTube. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  13. "The Entertainers - A Documentary Moving Picture". The Entertainers Movie. 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  14. "Adam Swanson Pianist (targeted YouTube search)". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  15. "Adam Swanson Interview with the Legendary Johnny Maddox". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  16. "Ian Whitcomb - My Life in Ragtime". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  17. "World-renowned Young Pianist has a Passion for Old-Time Music". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  18. "Ragtime legend's legacy continues from Gallatin home". Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  19. "Tickling the ivories one last time". Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  1. ^ "Adam Swanson's Millennial Syncopations". The Syncopated Times. 19 July 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ "Old Time Piano Contest - Past Winners". World Championship Old Time Piano Contest. 28 May 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c Norton, L. (2019, November 15) Skype interview
  4. ^ "Bohem Ragtime & Jazz Festival". Bohem Ragtime. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ "Michael Feinstein, Kate Baldwin, Adam Swanson, Rob Berman Conjure Tin Pan Alley Classics in NYC Feb. 29". Playbill.com. 29 February 2012. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Kennedy Center Artists - Adam Swanson". The Kennedy Center. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Waldo, Terry (2009). This is ragtime. Eubie Blake, Wynton Marsalis (First edition of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Library Editions republication ed.). New York. ISBN 978-1-934793-01-5. OCLC 470701120.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  8. ^ Karp, Larry (2010). The ragtime fool : [a mystery]. Scottsdale, Ariz.: Poisoned Pen Press. ISBN 978-1-59058-699-0. OCLC 586061084.
  9. ^ "Individual Ragtime Artists". Rag Piano. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ "Adam G. Swanson - Albums". Adam G Swanson. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  11. ^ "Visiting Artist - Adam Swanson". University of Southern Maine. 19 September 2019. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  12. ^ "Western Surprise". YouTube. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ "http://The Entertainers - A Documentary Moving Picture". The Entertainers Movie. 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  14. ^ "Adam Swanson -rigatoni -canvas -"Artist Adam Swanson"". YouTube. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ a b "Adam Swanson Interview with the Legendary Johnny Maddox". YouTube. 17 June 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ "Ian Whitcomb - My Life in Ragtime". YouTube. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ "World-renowned young pianist has a passion for old-time music". Davis Enterprise feature arts. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  18. ^ "Ragtime Legend's Legacy Continues from Gallatin Home". WSMV.com News. 10 Oct 2015. Retrieved 6 June 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  19. ^ "Tickling the ivories one last time". Durango Herald. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
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