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World on a String on CD

Equally conversant in straight ahead jazz and Brazilian music, guitarist Paul Meyers has shared the bandstand with the likes of Kenny Barron, Andy Bey, Jon Hendricks, Frank Wess and Wynton Marsalis while also being active on the Brazilian scene in New York for the past 20 years. He's as adept at bossa nova and baiao rhythms as he is at playing bebop, as comfortable with 4/4 swing as he is with sambas and chorinhos. Meyers is backed by pianist Helio Alves and saxophonist Donny McClasin, Vandelei Pereira on drums and Leo Traversa on bass. "It's certainly not straight ahead jazz but it's also not straight ahead Brazilian music either," says Meyers. "I'm trying to capture a wider spectrum in my writing, not necessarily one or the other but falling in the cracks and open to anything."