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As a child, Swallow studied piano and trumpet before turning to the acoustic bass at age 14. While attending a prep school, he began trying his hand in jazz improvisation. In 1960 he left Yale, where he was studying composition, and settled in New York City, playing at the time with Paul Bley and Jimmy Giuffre trio. Since joining Art Farmer's quartet in 1964, Swallow began to write. It is in the 1960's that his continuous association with Gary Burton's various bands began.

In 1974-76 Swallow taught at the Berklee College of MusicBerklee College of Music founded in 1945, is an independent music college in Boston, Massachusetts with many prominent faculty, staff, alumni, and visiting artists. It has an enrollment of approximately 3,800 students and a faculty of approximately 430 (. It is often speculated that he had an influence on the contents of The Real BookThe Real Book can refer to any of a number of popular jazz fake books, but is generally taken to refer to Volume 1 of a series transcribed and collated by students at Berklee College of Music during the 1970s. Bassist Steve Swallow and pianist Paul Bley w; it also includes a fair number of his early compositions. He later recorded an album of the same name, with the picture of a well-worn, coffee-stained Real Book on the cover.

In 1978 Swallow became an essential and constant member of Carla BleyCarla Bley nee Borg (born May 11, 1938) is an American jazz composer, pianist and band leader. An important figure in fusion, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera The Escalator Over the Hill (released as a triple LP set). Carla Bley married the ja's band. He toured extensively with John ScofieldJohn Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is a jazz guitarist, who played with Miles Davis. He released Uberjam in 2001 and "Up All Night" in 2004, two albums on which he experiments with all kinds of electronics to fit in with his guitar playing. In Autumn in the early 19801980 is a leap year starting on Tuesday. Events January-February January 1- April 1 National steel strike in United Kingdom January 1 Changes to the Swedish Act of Succession creates Victoria of Sweden, Crown Princess over her younger brother January 5 He's, and had returned to this collaboration several times over the years.

In the early 1970Events January events January 1 Construction begins on Arcosanti, by Paolo Soleri, in Mayer, Arizona, located 65, miles north of Phoenix, Arizona. January 1 Unix epoch at 00:00:00 UTC. January 12 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian civil war. January's he switched exclusively to bass guitar, of which he prefers the 5-string variety. Swallow plays with a pickA plectrum (plural: plectra is a device for plucking or strumming a stringed instrument. In guitars, banjos, and similar instruments, the plectrum is a separate tool held in the player's hand. In harpsichords, the plectra form part of the mechanism of the, and his style involves intricate solos in the upper register; he was one of the early adopters of the high C string on a bass guitar.

Swallow had consistently won the electric bass category in Down BeatDown Beat is an American magazine devoted to jazz. The publication was established in 1935 in Chicago. It is named after the " down beat" in music also called the "one beat". Down Beat publishes results of annual surveys of both its readers and critics in yearly polls, both Critics' and Readers', since the mid-80s. His compositions have been covered by, among others, Jim Hall (who recorded his very first tune, Eiderdown), Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Stan Getz and Gary Burton.