B.C.-based jazz bassist and composer Neil Swainson has returned with Fire in the West, his first album as a leader since 1988.

Swainson has spent much of his life as one of Canada’s most dependably brilliant side players for musicians such as Woody Shaw, George Shearing, Jay McShann and Roberta Gambarini.

For his second release as a bandleader, the visionary bassist is joined by pianist Renee Rosnes, drummer Lewis Nash, trumpeter Brad Turner and tenor saxophonist Kelly Jefferson.

Swainson’s first album 49th Parallel was released back in 1988 (and newly reissued in 2020) and featured a quintet with Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Jerry Fuller and Garry Williamson.