Cynthia Sayer
American musician
Cynthia Nan Sayer (born May 20, 1962) is an American jazz banjoist, singer and a founding member of Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band.
Career
A native of Waltham, Massachusetts, Sayer spent her early childhood in Wayland, Massachusetts and the remainder of her youth in Scotch Plains, New Jersey. She played piano from the age of six through her college years and also studied viola, drums, guitar, and banjo. She graduated from Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School and was inducted into the school's hall of fame in 2016. She sang in school and community theater and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Ithaca College with a degree in English. Sayer has worked with Woody Allen, Milt Hinton, Dick Hyman, Bucky Pizzarelli, George Segal, Dick Wellstood, the New York Philharmonic, and The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Teaching
Along with her performing, Cynthia has been a music educator for over 30 years. She has self-published two educational books for traditional jazz, teaches private and group lessons, and is a rotating faculty member of the New York Hot Jazz Camp.
Award and honors
National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame, 2006
Steve Martin Banjo Prize, 2023
Discography
The Jazz Banjo of Cynthia Sayer Vol. 1 (New York Jazz, 1987)
More Jazz Banjo Vol.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 12, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2390324. VIAF identifies the subject as 315554160. The Library of Congress control number is n2002127935. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1962, 2016, 2006 and 2023.
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This entry incorporates text from “Cynthia Sayer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.