Chris Crittenden Swansen

1939 - 1995

BornMilwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

DiedPittsville, Wisconsin, USA

BiographyChristopher Crittenden Swansen was born in 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA and passed in Pittsville, Wisconsin, USA on 4 December 1995 as a result of a brain tumor. Swansen attended Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire between 1957 and 1961, initially majoring in music and pre-medicine and graduating with distinction in the former. While at Dartmouth, he performed trombone in several jazz groups including the Barbary Coast big band and Sultans, and became a member of the Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He then followed with studies at the Berklee School of Music in Boston, Massachusetts between 1961 and 1962, where he was afforded the opportunity to write for the Herb Pomeroy Orchestra. In 1963, Swansen became the first jazz composer to receive a spot at the Tanglewood music school in Boston, where he studied conducting with notable composers such as Gunther Schuller, Aaron Copeland, and Iannis Xenakis. Throughout his early career as a jazz musician, Swansen developed key relationships with players such as Phil Woods, John McLaughlin, Joe Henderson, Stan Kenton, and Maynard Ferguson, and received commissions from the BBC, Stan Getz, and the Los Angeles Orchestra. He also served as director, composer, and conductor for the New York Improvisation Ensemble, and assisted in the production of a documentary film on the group in collaboration with photographer Tom Zimmerman. A significant turning point in Swansen’s compositional approach came throughout 1968 and 1969, when he took up a position as composer in residence and musical director with R.A. Moog, Inc. in Trumansburg, upstate New York. Following the hugely successful Jazz in the Garden concert in New York City in August 1969, Swansen’s electronic quartet performed in a similar event held in Paris, France; a series of 200 concerts and clinics throughout the United States, as well as two solo synthesizer albums, Pulaski Skyway and Album 2, followed throughout the early 1970s. In 1974, Swansen settled in Pittsville, establishing his home and studio in a converted school building. Between 1981 and 1995, he worked as a videographer, editor, and composer for a series of instructional videos that were broadcast on PBS. A collaborative album with Phil Woods, Piper at the Gates of Dawn of 1982, received a Grammy award nomination in the jazz category.