Stephen Swartz

Stephen SWARTZ Is A Percussionist Kalimbaist Toyist And Vocalist Who Was Raised In New Orleans And Shreveport Louisiana. Stephen Started Playing Hugh Tracy Treble Kalimba In High School. He Fell In Love With It And Wondered Why It Should Not Become As Universally Known/popular As The Harmonica. Stephen Made It His Mission To Promulgate This Little Wooden "melodic Magical Metal" Keyed Instrument. He Attended The Eighth International Percussion Symposium At North Texas State Univ. And Played Alongside Roy Haynes In The Final Night Concert In 1979. Throughout The Intervening Years And With His Various Bands He Has Always Used Kalimba In A Solo Instrumental Setting On Radio Shows At Poetry Readings To Accompany Recited Poetry In The Subway And On Certain Band Songs Even Doing Lead Runs On Alto G On Such Songs As "Margeritaville Jamaica Farewell Day-O Hide You Love Away" And Nothing Else Matters". At A Recent "house Concert" In Louisiana He Literally Brought Down The House Following His Lead Work On The Metallica Song. In The Late Seventies Early Eighties He Composed Two Surreal Works For Small Percussion Prominently Featuring Double And Triple Tracked Hugh Traceys Bridging Together The More Experimental Passages. Favorite Kalimba Story Stephen Found Himself In Veracruz Mexico With His Soon To Be French Wife. He Started Playing Kalimba In The Town Plaza When Soon After A Power Outage Occured. Once The Lights Came Back On He Was Amazed To Find 10 People Around Him Pushing Pesos In His Face. Kalimba Power In Motion! One Of His Kalimba Compositions "An Eil Glav" Is Currently Featured On The 2nd Album Orin-2005 Of Prog Breton Celtic Rock Band TornaoD Based In Paris Where Until Recently Stephen Handled The Percussion Duties For Eight Years. read less