It All Starts
In Here

Swan Kim is widely recognized as one of Korea’s earliest official jazz students to study in New York, having moved to the city in 1988 at a time when jazz education and performance opportunities in Korea were still extremely limited.

Upon arriving in New York, Kim immersed himself in the city’s vibrant jazz scene, moving between legendary downtown clubs such as Blue Note, Visiones, and the Village Gate, as well as Harlem venues including the historic Cotton Club. Through countless jam sessions and gigs with leading jazz musicians, he developed his skills as a sideman and established himself within the New York jazz community.

In 1992, Kim formed his own trio as a leader with John Ore, the ture legendary bassist associated with Thelonious Monk, and Jimmy Lovelace, the renowned drummer who had performed with Wes Montgomery. With this trio, he made his official New York debut at St. Peter’s Jazz Series in Manhattan, one of the city’s renowned jazz venues and a destination for jazz enthusiasts from around the world. The series featured an extraordinary month-long relay of performances by major figures in twentieth-century jazz, including Max Roach, Billy Taylor, the Count Basie Orchestra, and Dave Brubeck.

The following year, Kim was invited as the only Asian musician to participate in a major memorial concert honoring Dizzy Gillespie, one of the founding figures of bebop. More than 150 leading bebop musicians from around the world took part in the event.

Kim subsequently performed extensively throughout New York, appearing in clubs, universities, concert halls, festivals, and other major venues, including Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, and Symphony Space.

In 1996, he earned a Master of Arts degree in Jazz Composition from The City College of New York (CUNY). He also received the Mark Brunswick Composition Award for his composition “Dreamer,” later included on his album U Are My Sunshine.

Kim was introduced to the Korean jazz community in 1997 through a masterclass and solo piano performance at the Muju International Jazz Festival. In 1998, he returned to Korea and became the first chair professor of a dedicated jazz program at Seoul National University College of Music, where he played a pioneering role in establishing formal jazz education within one of Korea’s leading classical music institutions.

He subsequently founded the Seoul Jazz Society and educated generations of Korean jazz musicians. His pedagogical influence became known within the international music community as “Swan Kim’s School,” contributing significantly to the development of Korea’s jazz environment, which at the time lagged considerably behind neighboring Japan in terms of jazz education and infrastructure.

Recording Artist

As a recording artist, Kim has collaborated with some of the most respected musicians in the history of jazz.

His 2005 album Nostalgia was recorded with legendary hard-bop musicians Bob Cunningham on bass and Louis Hayes on drums.

His albums U Are My Sunshine and Harlem Rondo feature Ron McClure, one of the most respected bassists in contemporary jazz, and Billy Hart, widely regarded as one of the most influential drummers in jazz history. The albums were recorded with an emphasis on spontaneous interaction and improvisation, including sessions performed without conventional rehearsal.

Another New York recording project, Greensleeves, brought Kim together with veteran bassist Ray Drummond, who served on the jazz faculty at The Juilliard School, and drummer Victor Lewis, who taught at Rutgers University. Recorded in a New York studio, the album became another exploration of spontaneous ensemble playing, drawing upon a wide range of jazz styles and traditions.

Composer, Director, and Performer

Kim is also the creator, director, and performer of Swanny Rhapsody, an original Jazz operretta-“Japeretta” based on his extraordinary 33-year journey through jazz between Korea and New York.

The work is rooted in a more than 700-page autobiographical novel Kim wrote in Harlem approximately 33 years ago. From this extensive manuscript, he extracted the episodes surrounding his early New York experience and transformed them into the dramatic foundation of Swanny Rhapsody.

The score incorporates original compositions that Kim developed and released over more than two decades, including “Nostalgia ,” “Watch The Roatch,” “Harlem Rondo,” “Dreamer,” “Epilogue In Harlem,” “Swanny Blues,” and “Blues for Schoenberg.” These compositions were subsequently developed with lyrics and integrated into the dramatic narrative.

Rather than presenting previously recorded jazz compositions simply by adding Korean or English lyrics in a jukebox-musical format, Swanny Rhapsody combines autobiographical storytelling, original jazz composition, dramatic performance, and theatrical character work into a unified stage production.

The result is a highly personal one-person Jazz Japeretta, in which Kim transforms his real-life journey—from his arrival in New York and immersion in Harlem and the downtown jazz scene to his eventual emergence as a performer and educator—into a theatrical musical narrative.

Educator and Jazz Pioneer in Korea

As an educator, Swan Kim served as the Chair Professor of Jazz at Seoul National University College of Music from 1998 to 2001, following the establishment of Korea’s first formal jazz program at the institution.

He subsequently taught for many years as a visiting professor at the Graduate School of Performing Arts at Ewha Womans University (2006–2017) and served for an extended period as Chair and Head of the Practical Music Department at Soongsil University Conservatory (2002–2017).

He currently serves as Chair Professor of Jazz at Seoul Mirae Arts Institute, the predecessor of what developed into Yonsei University’s Digital Conservatory.

Over nearly three decades of teaching in Korea, Kim has continued to explore new approaches to jazz education. For more than ten years, he has developed and researched a new early-jazz-education methodology known as the “Jakie Method,” originally conceived as a jazz education system for children.

Through practical teaching with students of widely different ages and backgrounds at a multidisciplinary cultural performance space in Songpa, Seoul, Kim has expanded the methodology beyond aspiring music majors. His research suggests that the Jakie Method can be adapted for non-majors, adults, and senior learners, as well as for children, opening a broader field for lifelong jazz education.

Author

Kim is also the author of several jazz education books, including:

• Blues & Blues, Vol. 1 & 2
• Improvisation Techniques
• All That Blues

Throughout his career, Swan Kim has pursued a distinctive path connecting New York jazz, Korean jazz education, composition, improvisation, recording, and musical theatre.

From his early years as a Korean jazz student in New York to his work as a performer, composer, educator, and creator of Swanny Rhapsody, his career represents a continuous artistic journey between Korea and New York—and an ongoing effort to transform that journey into a new form of jazz theatre.

스완 김(Swan Kim)은 1988년에 재즈의 메카 뉴욕에, 공식적인 한국 최초의 재즈 유학생으로 알려져 있다. 뉴욕에 당도하자마자 블루노트, 비죠네, 빌리지 게이트, 등 다운타운의 클럽과 할렘 업타운의 코튼 클럽 등을 전전하며, 수많은 재즈의 거장들과 잼(jam)과 긱(Gig)을가지며 클럽의 사이드맨(Sideman) 플레이어로 기량을 샇았다. 특히, 1992년에는델로니어스 몽크(Thelonious Monk)의    베이시스트였던 존 오래(John Ore)와  웨스 몽고메리(Wes Montgomery)의 드러머 였던  지미 러브레이스(Jimmy Lovelace)와 함께 자신의 리더로 트리오를 결성했다. 그리고, 맥스 로치(Max Roach), 빌리 테일러(Billy Taylor), 카운트 베시(Count Basie)오케스트라, 데이브 브루백(David Brubeck)등이 출연 했던 20세기말 최대의 한달간의 릴레이–재즈공연에 공식적인 뉴욕 데뷔를 가졌다.그것은 세계의 재즈관광 명소로도 유명한 맨해튼 미드타운의 세인트 피터 공연 이었고,그 다음해에 150여명의 세계정상의 비밥연주자들이 총출동 하여 참가 연주한 비밥 창시자 디지 길레스피(Dizzy Gillespie)의 추모 콘서트에 동양인으로 유일하게 초청되었다.이후, 계속해서 클럽과 학교 그리고 뉴욕 카네기홀, 머킨홀, 심포니 스페이스등 수많은 공연장과 각종 페스티벌 등지에서 공연을 가졌다.

1996년에는 뉴욕 시립대(City College of New York)에서 재즈 작곡으로 석사 학위를 받았으며, “U Are My Sunshine” 앨범에 수록되어 있는 “드리머(Dreamer)”로 마크 브론즈윅 작곡상을 수상하기도 했다.

국내에는 1997년 무주 국제 재즈 페스티벌의 마스터클래스 진행과 솔로 피아노 연주로 소개 됐으며, 이듬해 서울대음대 (서음연)에서 국내 최초로 재즈과정을 개설하고 재즈 피아노주임교수를 역임 했다. 또한, 서울재즈 소사이어티(Seoul Jazz Society)를 설립하고 그간무수히 많은 국내의 정통 재즈학도들을 길러냈다. 이것은, 외국 음악계에서 흔히, 말하는“스완김의 재즈학풍(Swan Kim’s School) ”을 형성하게 됐으며, 이것의 영향으로 가까운 일본의 재즈와도 비교해, 무척이나 뒤쳐져 있던 한국 재즈의 환경을 크게 향상 시키는데 기여 했다.

연주자로써, 개인 음악앨범 활동으로는 2005년 “Nostalgia”는 하드밥 재즈의 전설들인 베이스의 밥 커닝햄 (Bob Cunningham)과 드러머, 루이스 헤이스 (Louis Hayes)와 함께 녹음했다. “You Are My Sunshine!” 과 “Harlem Rondo”의 음악앨범들은, 재즈계에 현존하는 최정상의 베이시스트, 론 맥클루어(Ron McClure)와 그리고, 재즈 역사상 가장 중요한 드러머로 손꼽히는 빌리 하트(Billy Hart)와 함께 리허설 없이 재즈 스탠다드곡들로 녹음 했다. 뉴욕 현지의 레코딩 스튜디오에서 벌어진, 또다른 즉석–즉흥연주의 향연인 “Greensleeves”앨범은, 당시 줄리아드음대 재즈 교수인 베트랑 베이시스트인, 레이 드러몽(Ray Drummond)과 재즈명문 럿거스 대학에 재직중인 드러머, 빅터 루이스(Victor Lewis)와 함께 재즈계의 또다른 전설들과 함께 다양한 연주 스타일로 녹음 했었다.

공연 연출, 뮤지컬배우로, 스완 김은 33년전에  뉴욕–할렘에서 완성한 자전적 소설을 바탕으로, 지난 20여년간 앨범작업에 발표 되었던 “노스텔지아(그땐   몰랐네)”, “할렘론도”, “드리머”,”스와니 블루스”,”쇤베르크 블루스”등이 그대로 자신의 창작- 재즈뮤지컬 “스와니랩소디(Swanny Rhapsody)”의   넘버들이 되었다. 그는 자신의 창작연주곡들이 단순히 모국어,영어로 가사를 달아서 쥬크박스 형태로 올린 뮤지컬이 아니라, 33년전에 할렘에서 집필한 700페이지가 넘는 분량의 자전적 장편소설중 에서 뉴욕 데뷔기를 발췌하여,   대본을 완성하고 20여년 동안에 발표한 창작 연주곡들 에 가사를 달았다

음악교육가로써, 스완 김(Swan Kim)은 서울대학교 음악대학 (서음연)에서 국내최초의 재즈전공자과정 주임교수(1998-2001)를 지냈으며, 이화여대 공연예술대학원에서 초청하여, 외래교수로 오랜 강의(2006-2017)를 했으며, 숭실대 컨서바토리 실용음악과 주임교수(학과장)로도 오랜 시간, 재직하였다(2002-2017). 현재는, 연세대 디지털 컨서바토리 전신인,서울 미래 예술교육원(https://miraeart.com)에 재즈 전공 주임교수로 재직중 이다.  

또한, 그는 30여년에 가까운 한국 강단에서의 경험을 바탕으로 새로운 재즈 조기교육의 페러다임인 “재즈키즈 방법론인–재키 메소(JakieMethod)”의 창시자로 10여년간끊임없이 연구 중이며, 최근에는 서울송파의 복합문화 소공연장 에서 의 다양한 연령과 계층을 지도한 결과, 재키 메소드는 비전공인 외에, 시니어를 포함, 남녀노소 누구나, 적용될 수 있음에, 그 영역을 확대해 나가고 있다.  집필한 저서 로써는, “Blues & Blues Vol. 1 ,2 ” , “즉흥연주기법”  그리고 “All That Blues”가 있다

This website is my stage. Welcome to the next performance.