Cynthia Sayer

Multi-award-winning instrumentalist/vocalist/bandleader Cynthia Sayer is acclaimed as the top 4-string banjoist worldwide. Praised for her “drive and virtuosity” by The New York Times, she is in the American Banjo Hall Of Fame. Cynthia is the first 4-string banjoist on the cover of International Musician Magazine, and the first banjoist to win the 2019 Bistro Award and 2018 Global Music Awards. In 2018 she was also the first 4-string banjoist ever featured at the Newport Jazz Festival. Sayer first rose to international prominence as a founding member of Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band, and has played with leading jazz, popular, and roots music artists including Bucky Pizzarelli, Dick Hyman, Andy Statman, Les Paul, Marvin Hamlisch, Wynton Marsalis, Scott Bradlee’s Postmodern Jukebox, and many others. Cynthia has appeared on numerous national TV and radio shows. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, DownBeat, Fretboard Journal, People Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and countless other local, trade, and foreign media outlets. A multi-instrumentalist heard on feature film and TV soundtracks, Cynthia’s 9 feature albums have received multiple nominations and awards. She played at The White House, performed with The New York Philharmonic, and is the subject of a Trivial Pursuit question. Cynthia lives in New York City and endorses Ome Banjos, GHS Strings, Blue Chip Picks, and The Realist Banjo Pickups by David Gage.