Syd Swinson

Syd got her start as a vocalist once she gained the capacity to mimic the wide range of music that she was exposed to during childhood. The obsession for performing the music of her very favorite musical influences, and of creating music of her own came very soon after. Growing up on Long Island focusing on Jazz, then Blues Folk and Soul music lent her early opportunities to bring her unique voice to a wide range of historical New York venues from Carnegie Hall to Stephan Talkhouse of Amagansett with respected musicians such as David Amram and Bakithi Kumalo. Her voice has been described as a “Seemingly physical force powered by emotion” and an “Embodied Instrument” creating a sound that resonates with a diverse crowd of listeners. During her time in high school she wrote her debut album, then shortly after recorded that self titled original project produced by Andy Falco of the Infamous Stringdusters. Since then she has been exploring the country playing her first and second records in venues for new listeners to discover. In 2018 Syd and her sister and long time musical collaborator Corey Swinson threw a musical improvisation party for their friends. That was the night her band Squid was created. Since then she has been preforming live with Squid and touring as a solo musician playing a range of instruments from guitar to djembe. Syd is inspired to produce art in audio and physical forms, as she advances her career as a metalsmith artist designing and creating original jewelry and sculpture works.
 

Squid pianist/keyboard Johnathan Jackson began his musical journey from the age of seven in Buffalo, New York. After being moved to Long Island, he began to experiment with other instruments such as the bass and the cello while learning classical pieces for the piano. Being raised in the church, it was only a matter of time before he started playing for Sunday services starting out as the backup keyboardist. 

After learning from the other church musicians there, he went on to the Nyack College School of Music to further his studies and learn even more styles of playing, while taking up the diapason organ. While there he enrolled in jazz improvisation classes, sang at Carnegie Hall with the college chorale, and was a regular in town playing at Open Mic Jazz Jam sessions. Before graduating, Jackson interned at the United Palace Theater in New York City under the direction of James Stovall (1958-2010) until 2008. Jackson then returned to his home Church after graduation to take over playing piano for Sunday services where he still continues to play to this day. 

Discovered through forms of social media and open mics, Jackson joined up with the progressive rock band "Glass Forest" to play locally from 2011 to 2013. And since has joined up with other local acts such as Funkin A', Bryan Gallo, and Xia Brooks while participating in open mics until getting the call to bring is improvisational skills to Squid in 2018.

Bill got started playing the mandolin back in the mid 90s when he discovered bluegrass music through his passion for jam bands like Phish and the Grateful Dead.  He discovered mandolinist extraordinaire David Grisman and that changed his musical life forever. The music he plays spans the globe and includes Bluegrass, Folk, Classical, Jazz, Irish, Brazillian, Eastern European, and Italian music.  He has been playing first mandolin in the Long Island Mandolin and Guitar Orchestra since 2012.  While most of his work has been with the acoustic mandolin, in Squid he plays the electric mandolin which adds a whole new dimension to the types of sounds the mandolin can make.  During the day, he works as a software consultant, and enjoys mountain biking and spending time with his wife and two kids.