String Swing

Taking up the instrument at the age of 13, Cynthia Sayer has become one of the leading banjo players in jazz. Combining her plucking with a straightforward and sometimes rough and ready singing style, Sayer has parlayed this favorable marriage of skills into a successful career, having performed with many top-flight jazz artists, appearing live at many venues — including the White House — and working on the soundtracks of films like Purple Rose of Cairo. She is also a member of Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band. Sayer brought all of her experience and talent to the studio to cut this album. The performances recall New Orleans-style jazz. But they also capture the ambience of bars and saloons, dancehalls, and old-time vaudeville and minstrel shows. Sayer projects the banjo beyond tunes where one expects to hear the instrument (and there are those on this disc). She solos on "You," "Until the Real Thing Comes Along," and "Always," playing her plectrum banjo with a style and elegance normally not heard from past practitioners of the instrument. She also is adroit at the tenor guitar, which sounds like a softer version of the banjo. The players who accompanied Sayer in the studio are major contributors to the pleasures this CD provides. Clarinetist Kenny Davern appears on six tracks. His opening on "More Than You Know" with Jay Leonhart playing bass underneath is a joy to hear. The mandolin, rarely heard in jazz these days, in the hands of Barry Mitterhoff gives a fresh sound to songs like "April Showers" and "You'll Never Know." Joe Ascione's drums, with Leonhart's bass, provide a solid rhythmic underpinning for the set. The play list is a fortuitously selected agenda of tunes. There are old standbys and some songs like "Rialto Ripples" which are not played that often anymore. Traditional pop is represented by blasts from the past like "Don't Fence Me In." This album is a generous 64 minutes of just plain fun and is strongly recommended.