Cynthia Sayer Hot Swing Trio

CYNTHIA SAYER - Praised for her "drive and virtuosity" by The New York Times, instrumentalist/vocalist/band­ leader Cynthia Sayer is renowned for bringing the swinging sounds of jazz banjo, the original fretted instrument of jazz, to concert and festival audiences worldwide. An American Banjo Hall of Famer and 2023 Steve Martin Banjo Prize winner, Sayer is a pioneering artist who pays tribute to America’s musical heritage through her virtuoso playing, engaging vocals, and informative, entertaining anecdotes.

Sayer is a multi-instrumentalist heard on feature film and TV soundtracks and has appeared on numerous national TV and radio shows, performed at The White House, played with The New York Philharmonic and The New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, and is a longtime founding member of Woody Allen’s New Orleans Jazz Band. She is also an avid educator with a long track record of jazz workshops, lecture/demos, and educational programming for all ages.

SARA CASWELL  - Grammy® Nominee Sara Caswell “is a brilliant world-class violinist...one of the very best of the present generation of emerging young jazz stars” according to the late David Baker, internationally-renowned jazz educator and Director of the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra. Rooted in an early exposure to a variety of musical genres, Sara’s technical facility intertwined with her gift for lyricism continue to attract growing attention to her artistry as a jazz soloist, sideman, and teacher. 

Voted into the DownBeat Magazine Critics and Readers Polls every year since 2013, Sara has released three highly-acclaimed albums under her own name – The Way to You (2023), But Beautiful (2005), and First Song (2000). She has been part of groups led by esperanza spalding (Chamber Music Society), Linda Oh (Aventurine), and David Krakauer (The Big Picture), and has performed and/or recorded with artists and ensembles including the WDR Big Band, Brad Mehldau, Brian Blade, John Patitucci, Donny McCaslin, Henry Threadgill, Dave Stryker, Helen Sung, Miho Hazama, Christian Sands, Regina Carter, Kishi Bashi, and Bruce Springsteen. She is a member of Joseph Brent's 9 Horses trio, Chuck Owen's The Jazz Surge, and the Caswell Sisters Quintet (a group she co-leads with her sister, vocalist Rachel Caswell). In 2013, Sara and Rachel joined forces with Grammy®-nominated jazz pianist Fred Hersch and recorded the album Alive in the Singing Air to rave reviews and its selection by jazz critic Thomas Cunniffe as one of the year's “Best Vocal CDs” on Jazz History Online. Sara has performed at Carnegie Hall, Village Vanguard, Birdland, Jazz at Lincoln Center, SFJazz, Disney Hall, Barbican, and Blue Note (NYC and Tokyo), and at jazz festivals including Newport, Montreal, Montreux, North Sea, Banlieues Bleues, and Saratoga Springs, among others.

JEN HODGE – string bass (“Rising Star Artist”) Jen Hodge is a bass player, vocalist, bandleader, and arranger. She originally hails from Western Canada, and relocated to New York City in the Fall of 2019. Jen's playing is characterized by hard swinging grooves, an expressive and energetic playing style, and an evident, infectious love for making music. Her steadfast bass playing and consummate professionalism have taken her to stages all over Canada, the USA, China, Spain, France, the UK, Sweden, and the Caribbean with such artists as Bria Skonberg, Casey MacGill, Jon-Erik Kellso, Jonathan Stout, and Greg Ruby.