Szwed gained his Doctor of Philosophy in anthropology from Ohio State University. His work as an anthropologist and folklorist includes field studies in Newfoundland, the Georgia Sea Islands, and Trinidad. As a musician, Szwed studied trombone, music theory, and played professionally for twelve years.
Szwed is the author of many books on jazz and American music, including studies of Sun Ra, Miles Davis, Jelly Roll Morton, Alan Lomax and Billie Holiday. He has taught at New York University, the University of Pennsylvania (where he was Director of the Center for Urban Ethnography and Chair of the Department of Folklore). From 1982 to 2008, Szwed was John M. Musser Professor of Anthropology, African American Studies, and Film Studies at Yale University.
Szwed was appointed Professor of Music and Jazz Studies at Columbia University in 2008.
In 2011, he assumed the directorship of the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia.
