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Cynthia Sayer

Multi-award-winning instrumentalist/vocalist/bandleader Cynthia Sayer is acclaimed by musicians, critics, and fans alike as the top 4-string banjoist in the world today. Praised for her “drive and virtuosity” by the New York Times, Cynthia enchants audiences with her electrifying, swing-based performances and captivating stage presence wherever she appears.

An inductee into the American Banjo Hall Of Fame, and winner of the 2019 Bistro Award and 2018 Global Music Awards, Cynthia garnered cheering crowds and her usual standing ovation at the 2018 Newport Jazz Festival. Other USA festivals include appearing as a Special Guest at the prestigious 2019 Django Reinhardt Festival in NYC, headlining at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage festival, the 2017 Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, and numerous others. Multiple international jazz festivals have honored Cynthia as "Festival Favorite" and readers polls have named her “Favorite Living Banjo Player,” “First-Choice Headliner,” and “Best Banjo Player.” Cynthia has appeared as a guest and performer on CBS, FOX & ABC network television shows, including Good Morning America and The Morning Show, as well as on NPR's Piano Jazz, Woodsongs Old-Time Radio Hour, BBC Radio, and elsewhere. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, DownBeat, Fretboard Journal, International Musician, People Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and countless other local, trade, and foreign media outlets.

Sayer first rose to international prominence as a founding member of Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band, all the while exploring her wider musical interests and playing with such legendary jazz, popular, and roots music artists as Bucky Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Andy Statman, Les Paul, Marvin Hamlisch, Wynton Marsalis, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, Charlie Giordano (with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band), and John McEuen (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band), as well as leading jazz contemporaries such as Vince Giordano, Scott Robinson, Wycliffe Gordon, Anat Cohen, and many others.

A multi-instrumentalist heard on distinguished feature film and TV soundtracks and comfortable in many genres, Cynthia’s fun, family-friendly programs present the unexpected musical diversity of the banjo in the hands of a master. She tours extensively with her bands and as a guest artist across four continents, including her second smash hit tour in China in 2018. At home in New York City, she performs at leading venues like New York City's Lincoln Center, Birdland, Joe's Pub at The Public, and City Winery NY.

Her feature CD's, nine in all, have received rave reviews and multiple "Best of" nominations and awards in various categories, including two Jazz Journalists Association best pick lists. Sayer has played for two U.S. Presidents (once at The White House), performed with several symphony orchestras including The New York Philharmonic, was the official banjoist for The New York Yankees, and is proud to be the subject of a Trivial Pursuit game question.

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4
Book Review

You're IN the Band - The Real Experience of Playing in a Traditional/Hot Jazz Band

Read "You're IN the Band - The Real Experience of Playing in a Traditional/Hot Jazz Band" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


You're IN the Band Cynthia Sayer 128 Pages ISBN: #978-0-578-17971-1 Cynthia Sayer Music 2016 Multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, bandleader and music educator, Cynthia Sayer's name might not be a bell-ringer, however I'd wager that you've probably heard her Hall of Fame banjo (Yes, there is one!) playing on film soundtracks, commercials, pop recordings--or, if you've been a lucky-so-and-so, live. At the request of her students, Sayer has compiled and published her thoughts, ...

1
Album Review

Cynthia Sayer: Joyride

Read "Joyride" reviewed by Nicholas F. Mondello


Banjo!--one's mental and aural images might include straw-hatted gents picking away at an attraction at Disney World, Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole strolling in Cat Ballou, (Columbia Pictures, 1965) “The Beverly Hillbillies Theme," or perhaps the iconic “duel" from Deliverance (Warner Bros., 1972) There's probably no other musical instrument on the planet that's more associated with novelty, Americana and all-around Good Times.Joyride from celebrated jazz banjoist and vocalist, Cynthia Sayer, lives up to its title. And, while ...

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Extended Analysis

Cynthia Sayer: Cynthia - The Reissue Recordings

Read "Cynthia Sayer: Cynthia - The Reissue Recordings" reviewed by Budd Kopman


Cynthia Sayer Cynthia - The Reissue Recordings New York Jazz 2005

While many people who are into jazz are always looking for the next newest thing (perhaps you), there are also people (perhaps you) who listen to jazz of the past and get transported to that place and time, or at least what is thought of as how things were then. In other words, the music, which was a part of the culture of ...

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Profile

Cynthia Sayer

Read "Cynthia Sayer" reviewed by Robert Spencer


Time was when every self-respecting jazz band had a banjoist. The legendary Johnny St. Cyr did duty in both Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers and Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, and he was just the preeminent member of a hearty and considerable band. Listen to the banjo breaks on those great early sides, and you get a glimpse into the folk roots of this music--its common roots with modern folk and rock. But on the jazz side of the street, ...

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Album Review

Cynthia Sayer: String Swing

Read "String Swing" reviewed by Dave Nathan


Taking up the instrument at the age of 13, Cynthia Sayer is now a top jazz banjo player in jazz rivalling Bela Fleck. Combining her banjo with a straight forward and sometimes rough and ready singing style, Sayer has parlayed this favorable marriage of skills into a very successful career, having performed with many top flight jazz artists, appearing live at many venues - - including the White House - - and working on the sound tracks of films like ...

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Performance / Tour

It's How You Play the Game

It's How You Play the Game

Source: Jazz Lives by Michael Steinman

Two scenes from contemporary life in and around jazz, April 9 and 10, 2010:

Last night I made a pilgrimage to the Knickerbocker Bar and Grill on University Place in New York City to hear the remarkable banjoist / singer Cynthia Sayer and the noble pianist Mark Shane.  The two large rooms that house the Knickerbocker were crowded, although I found a table near the piano. 

Cynthia and Mark played beautifully--mostly up-tempo romps: LINGER AWHILE, WOLVERINE BLUES, YOU ALWAYS HURT THE ONE YOU LOVE, ...

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Performance / Tour

Cynthia Sayer, Acclaimed Jazz Banjoist & Vocalist, Feb 8 & 9 at Knickerbockers 9:45 PM - 2:AM

Cynthia Sayer, Acclaimed Jazz Banjoist & Vocalist, Feb 8 & 9 at Knickerbockers 9:45 PM - 2:AM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Internationally Acclaimed Jazz Banjoist & Vocalist Cynthia Sayer Appearing Fri Feb 8 & Sat Feb 9, 2008 Knickerbocker Bar & Grill 33 University Pl New York, NY 10003 Phone: (212) 228-8490 9:45 PM - 2:AM Duo with pianist Rossano Sportiello from Italy Cynthia Sayer: Multi Award-winning artist, 10+ years with Woody Allen's Jazz Band Rossano Sportiello: Renowned in Europe, now hitting the NYC scene “Miss Sayer finds lively banjo harmonies and provocative ...

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Performance / Tour

Bargemusic January Jazz Programs

Bargemusic January Jazz Programs

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

THURSDAY NIGHT JAZZ SERIES AT BARGEMUSIC For reservations and further information, please call: (718) 624-2083 Or e-mail us at [email protected] Tickets are $35 regular, $30 seniors, $20 students Located at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, Bargemusic began its Thursday night JAZZ Series starting in June 2007. Please find the September schedule below with more performances to come! Imagine a truly unique New York City location with charm, history and spectacular water ...

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Performance / Tour

Cynthia Sayer Appearing at Bargemusic Thurs., Jan. 10th 8PM

Cynthia Sayer Appearing at Bargemusic Thurs., Jan. 10th 8PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

With: Matt Munisteri (guitar) & Jennifer Vincent (string bass).

Located at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge, Bargemusic began its Thursday night JAZZ Series starting in June 2007. Please find the September schedule below with more performances to come! Imagine a truly unique New York City location with charm, history and spectacular water views. A location that will delight even the most sophisticated socialite or businessperson. And envision this against the magnificent backdrop of the New York City skyline. The ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz Banjoist & Vocalist Cynthia Sayer Appearing at the Bickford Theater Wyeth Jazz Showcase Monday, December 3rd 8PM

Jazz Banjoist & Vocalist Cynthia Sayer Appearing at the Bickford Theater Wyeth Jazz Showcase Monday, December 3rd 8PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services

Monday, December 3rd 8PM

Bickford Theatre/Morris Museum 6 Normandy Heights Rd Morristown, NJ 8:PM. For tickets & information, call 973-971-3706

Featuring Cynthia Sayer (banjo/vocals) Dan Levinson (clarinet/sax) & Jennifer Vincent (string bass)

“Miss Sayer finds lively banjo harmonies and provocative phrasing ... a rare jazz banjoist." --THE NEW YORK TIMES

“Sayer is not only one of the best banjo players around, she's also a sincere vocalist ...

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Performance / Tour

Cynthia Sayer Appearing at the Bickford Theater Wyeth Jazz Showcase Monday, December 3rd 8PM

Cynthia Sayer Appearing at the Bickford Theater Wyeth Jazz Showcase Monday, December 3rd 8PM

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services


Cynthia Sayer is a rarity; a woman who plays banjo with drive and virtuosity.” — THE NEW YORK TIMES

"She's pushing the four-string banjo into new, uncharted territory." — FRETBOARD JOURNAL

“Some of [the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Fest ] best moments...Cynthia Sayer and her Joyride Quartet was a fresh breeze. Power banjo, very cool.” — OFFBEAT MAGAZINE

"Sayer is not only one of the best banjo players around, she's also a sincere vocalist who effectively puts across songs." — NEW YORK POST

"A dazzling evening, a capacity crowd... Nobody wanted it to end." — GUARDIAN NEWS (England)

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

JOYRIDE

Plunk Records
2013

buy

ATTRACTIONS: With...

Plunk Records
2007

buy

CYNTHIA: Reissue...

New York Jazz records
2005

buy

String Swing

Jazzology Records
2001

buy

Jazz At Home

Jazzology
1997

buy

FORWARD MOVES:...

Plunk Records/Yerba Buena Jazz
1992

buy

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