Paul Meyers’ World on a String jazz trio will perform at Weatherwatch Farm in Saranac, New York on Labor Day, September 5 at 3 p.m. Paul Meyers is one of the most admired jazz guitarists active today. His classical guitar artistry finds him equally at home performing musical styles ranging from Bossa Nova to Be-Bop to Bartok – all played with impeccable technique and true passion. His fluid style and lyricism as both virtuoso guitarist-improviser and composer-arranger have won him praise and respect from colleagues, afficionados, and the media.

Paul Meyers has been a busy freelancer, sideman, and bandleader in and around New York City since 1980. An eloquent and versatile improviser, Meyers’s list of credits reads like a Who’s Who in Jazz. He has been heard with an extraordinary range of jazz greats, including performances and recordings with: Geri Allen, Harry Allen, Kenny Barron, Andy Bey, Ron Carter, Ray Drummond, Eliane Elias, Clare Fischer, Sonny Fortune, Eddie Gomez, Annie Ross, Wynton Marsalis, Bill Mays, Rufus Reid, Frank Wess, and Steve Wilson.

A gifted composer and arranger, evolving from the vast jazz repertoire he has studied and performed over four decades, Meyers takes the listener to a much advanced, fresh place of creativity, stretching traditional
boundaries while never losing the basic song form or joy. His harmonic structures are new and often unexpected and open a new world of chord voicings and usages.

“World on a String” is a project for which Paul has been composing for several years. Leo Traversa on bass and Vanderlei Pereira on drums – a pair of dynamic musicians active in the New York City jazz scene -partner Paul on nylon string guitar to perform his originals and arrangements. Music that fuses jazz tradition with rhythms and concepts taken from Brazilian and Latin, folk, classical music and beyond is Paul’s deeply
personal version of jazz with a world music perspective – all with a swinging, grooving foundation.

Admission to the Labor Day performance is $20 at the door. Current public health guidelines will be followed. For further information, call 518-293-7613, e-mail ambrown.hillholl@gmail.com or visit www.hillandhollowmusic.org.

Paul Meyers. Photo provided by Angela Brown of Hill and Hollow Music.

More About Paul Meyers & World on a String Musicians:

“…one of the most eloquent jazz guitarists since Kenny Burrell…” James Gavin, The New York Times

“Meyers is clearly one of the best guitarists and composers around” Dr. Judith Schlesinger, allaboutjazz.com

“One of the great things about NYC’s jazz scene is the presence of musicians like Paul Meyers-so consistently satisfying that we sometimes take his greatness for granted!” Jack Kleinsinger, Highlights in Jazz

“A virtuoso guitarist and improviser [who brings] his own voice to each and every melody and solo he performs…. his lines are delivered with a hard driving sense of groove that only helps to accentuate his melodic and harmonic vocabulary.” (Matthew Warnock, Just Jazz Guitar)

A very active player in New York’s vibrant Brazilian jazz scene, Paul leads his own Brazilian Jazz group World on a String, which features Leo Travesa on bass and blind Brazilian drummer Vanderlei Pereira, and often saxophonist Donny McCaslin and Brazilian pianist Helio Alves. He also is a member of Mr. Pereira’s fantastic group Blindfold Test and Requite Trio, a group featuring vocalists Nanny Assis and Janis Siegel and pianist John DiMartino whose debut CD Honey & Air was nominated for three Grammy awards in 2015. He was a member of the Terra Brasil, which featured pianist/composer Cidinho Teixeira and vocalist Vera Mara, both veterans of the great Gilberto Gil’s band.

He later co-led Brasil & Company with Ms. Mara, and they released a highly regarded CD as well. He has performed in New York and Tokyo with the great Tango-jazz pianist and composer Pablo Zeigler (Astor Piazzola’s pianist) and is featured along with Stephon Harris on the live CD Tango meets Jazz. He returned to Tokyo to play at the Blue Note with vocalist Karrin Allison, performing music from her Brazilian CD Imagina. Paul is featured on the soundtrack to the film Bossa Nova (2000) w/Amy Irving, and music by Deodato. He has also worked with the great Paul Winter at his Winter Solstice concerts, featuring Paul with several great Brazilian singers, Luciana Souza, Renato Braz and Fabiana Cozza.

International performances include Japan and Hong Kong with the Salute to Duke Ellington Orchestra (along with Bob Brookmeyer, Mel Lewis and Joe Wilder) – Spain with the great percussionist Cafe – Brazil,
France, Germany, Switzerland, England, and Italy with Jon Hendricks – Brazil, England, Spain. Portugal, Macedonia, Greece and the Netherlands with Andy Bey – Japan with Karrin Allison, and Argentina with
Gary Burton. Mr. Burton also recorded Paul’s tune Panama on his “Reunion” CD with Pat Metheny.

Leo Traversa (Electric Bass) – Highly proficient and versatile, and an incredibly supportive bass player. The European press has called him “perfect in technique and brilliant in providing instrumental background” and “master of the 5-string bass.” He has performed and recorded with a wide range of internationally known artists including Tania Maria, Eliane Elias, both Randy and Michael Brecker, Milton Nascimento, and many others.

Vanderlei Pereira (Drums & Percussion) – This master musician combines a prodigious knowledge of Brazilian and Afro-Cuban rhythms with impeccable technique and a distinctive touch. Modern Drummer
magazine said “Pereira’s . . . interpretation of Zydeco-like baião, the martial ciranda and more syncopated maracatú, and the driving, straight-ahead xote, offers glimpses of the richness of Brazil beyond Bossa, and demonstrate some great rhythmic ideas…” He brings a unique palette to all the music he’s involved in, keeping him in high demand. He has appeared and recorded with Toots Thielemans, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Tito Puente and Claudio Roditi, and many more.

Sneak a preview of the World on a String jazz trio by checking out these videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arStg_uMtVk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW_gRXBgwak

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts.

Photo at top:”World on a String” jazz trio featuring Paul Meyers on nylon string guitar, Leo Traversa on bass, and Vanderlei Pereira on drums. Photo provided by Angela Brown of Hill and Hollow Music.