Swope was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 4, 1922.[1] His family was musical: his parents, a sister and two brothers were all musicians.[1] One of his brothers was Rob Swope.[1]
When he was 20, Swope played with Sonny Dunham; he was then with Boyd Raeburn (1943–44), Georgie Auld (1945), and Buddy Rich (1945–47).[1] From 1947 to 1949 he worked with Woody Herman and also recorded in small groups with Stan Getz and Serge Chaloff.[1] In 1950–51 he was with Elliot Lawrence, then worked freelance in New York and Washington, D.C.[1] Later in the 1950s he returned to big band work, playing with Jimmy Dorsey (1957) and Louie Bellson (1959).[1] In the 1960s he played locally in Washington, D.C.; he died there on January 3, 1968.[1]
"He was one of the few trombonists in the 1940s to develop a style that was not influenced by J. J. Johnson; he played in a modern barrelhouse style".[1]
