Steve Swallow: Winter Songs (ECM 2879)

Steve SwallowWinter Songs Mike Rodriguez trumpetChris Cheek tenor saxophoneSteve Cardenas guitarGil Goldstein pianoSteve Swallow bassAdam Nussbaum drumsRecorded September 2024 at Sear Sound, New YorkEngineer: Tyler McDiarmidCover photo: Luciano RossettiAn ECM ProductionRelease date: June 26, 2026 “I was there when this music was written. In fact, my hand held the pencil. I began with the need to do something to fill each long day, and music rushed forward to sustain me. Before Winter Songs I had given music whatever I could, but as I made this album the tables turned: it gave me what I needed. Music is elemental, like the air we breathe.”–Steve Swallow Winter Songs is one of those albums that arrives quietly, carrying the circumstances that shaped it. Steve Swallow’s first true leader date since 2013’s Into The Woodwork, and his first appearance on the label since contributing to John Scofield’s Swallow Tales and Carla Bley’s Life Goes On in 2020, does not present itself as a…