Swordfish Collective

Swordfish Collective is a fiery, soulful, jazz-fusion ensemble with a global sound that spans across genres and geography. Cinematic compositions blend into Afro-Latin grooves, and freeform improvisation launches them into uncharted territory, all while staying rooted in blues, jazz, and other Black American artforms. 

They arrive at this international crossroads thanks to bandleader Eric Heveron-Smith’s world travels. His 20+ year career has included tours across 45 states, 6 Canadian provinces, Africa, Asia, and Europe, with groups like Postmodern Jukebox, award-winning blues guitarist Gabe Stillman, swing bandleader Gordon Webster, and an ever-growing roster of jazz, folk, rock, and world music artists. 

Eric combines this experience with years of salsa, gospel, and funk gigs, plus studies with jazz masters including Steve Davis (trombonist with Chick Corea, Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers), Nat Reeves (bassist with Kenny Garrett), and Jeff Coffin (saxophonist with Bela Fleck & The Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band). 

In recent years, Eric has collaborated with West African musicians like Solo’s Beat, a member of the songwriting collective Telem Uncommon Sounds, from Sierra Leone. The two met at the Silk Road Project’s Global Musicians Workshop in 2023, where they were grouped with 70 other musicians from 25 countries into ensembles led by faculty like Balla Kouyaté (Malian balafon master) and Jamey Haddad (percussionist for Paul Simon). That led to Eric traveling to Sierra Leone to teach and perform at Telem’s songwriting retreat, out of which came the album Telem Strong (2024). 

Swordfish Collective launches their debut album next year (funded in part by a grant from the Genesee Valley Council on the Arts), inviting you on a musical journey that runs from New Orleans calypso and street beats, to contemplative and melodic fretless bass, to a Hendrix-invoking guitar jam over Paul Simon’s 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover.