Closely associated with the eighties East Village art scene, she was the lead singer and drummer for punk group the Guerilla Girls as well as Pleasure, an early electronica, dub and free jazz influenced band that featured Felice Rosser, Danny Hamilton, Richard Cleves, Martin Wheeler, Jemeel Moondoc and Daniel Carter.
He then moved to New York City, where he led small groups and a Multinational Big Band, with sidemen including Roy Campbell, Jack Walrath, Art Baron, Talib Kibwe, Joe Ford, Jemeel Moondoc, Richard Baratta, Paul Nebenzahl, Mark Whitecage, Dave Hofstra, Booker T., Joe Lovano, Paul Motian, Rashied Ali, and Kirk Lightsey.
Swell has a number of projects including Slammin' The Infinite (w/Sabir Mateen, Matthew Heyner, Klaus Kugel), Fire Into Music (w/William Parker, Jemeel Moondoc, Hamid Drake), Unified Theory Of Sound (w/Cooper-Moore, Matt Lavelle) and his large ensemble Nation Of We (aka NOW Ensemble).