Even before releasing her 2017 full length debut, I Remember Rio, Deborah Swiney had distinguished herself as an artist who’s fully committed to jazz. While many in this city go on to sing the soul or gospel music they were raised with, only a few choose to walk on the more swinging side of the street. While Swiney, too, began singing in other genres, her new single, a stellar take on Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael’s “Skylark,” only solidifies her dedication to the great American art form known as jazz.
She’s come a long way from the blues and gospel of the South Memphis neighborhood where she grew up. Between her mother’s blues piano and singing in the choir at the Greater Open Door Missionary Baptist Church on Florida Street, she was hooked on singing from an early age, even if adult life had other plans — for a time. “Towards the end of my marriage, I said, ‘Well, you know, things aren’t going too well here. I think I’m going to start doing some things that I like to do.’” Then she began singing more than ever.
Dabbling in modeling on the side, Swiney stepped up as the lead singer for local R&B and pop band Krazar, but her real leap forward came in 1992, when she was hired as a background singer in Al Green’s touring band. Even then, at the height of Green’s disavowal of pop, “we would be performing gospel music, but people would be hollering out ‘Love and Happiness!’ or ‘Let’s Stay Together!’” says Swiney. “Of course, he would end up singing those at the end. The longer I was in the band, each year we would do less gospel music.”
Meanwhile, The Nile, Swiney’s gift and décor shop, became a musical hub as well. “Folks would come and sit in,” she recalls, “like Kelley Hurt and Chris Parker, and Gerard Harris, or John Williams, the bassist. Even Rufus Thomas and Carla Thomas would come in and hang out for a minute. So it was pretty cool.
“Then, around 2004, Ed Finney walked into my store,” Swiney explains. The celebrated jazz guitarist had been making a name for himself ever since playing on Beale Street in its 1960s heyday. “He said, ‘Deb, would you like to sing in a blues quartet at the Peabody?’ … And we ended up playing the Corner Bar at the Peabody for three and a half years!”
From that point on Finney schooled Swiney in the great standards of jazz. “Ed ended up being my mentor and my music director. He really was a big influence.” Even after the Peabody gig came to an end, they played as a duo and in other combinations for years.
Their partnership came to its fullest fruition in recording I Remember Rio with some of Memphis’ greatest players, including Tony Thomas, Sam Shoup, Tom Lonardo, Lannie McMillan, Felix Hernandez, and Ekpe Abioto. Swiney rose to the occasion with soulful, brassy vocals, while Finney created perfect settings for her voice, lending his own imaginative guitar lines as needed, and even contributing the title song.
That album garnered many weeks of airplay on local jazz station WUMR (now WYXR). Since then, Swiney has gone from success to success and developed a deep commitment to the community, both through her Sharing Music & Arts nonprofit, which provides free entertainment to the special needs community, and her Sunset Jazz series at Court Square. The series’ sixth year begins May 11th with Keenan Shotwell, with others to follow on the second Sunday of every month through October. Indeed, it’s been so successful that she received the 2019 Downtown Memphis Mighty Light Vision Award for her efforts. “It makes me feel good that my city is recognizing me,” she says.
And now, as of April 30th, she’s dropped her stellar version of “Skylark” on all streaming sites. Led by her newest musical director and guitarist Gerard Harris, the band also includes Sylvester Sample (bass), Dr. T.W. Sample (piano), and Terry Saffold (drums). Meanwhile, catch Swiney live every Thursday at The Cove from 6 to 9 p.m.
