Nic Meier

In just a few short years UK-based Swiss guitarist Nicolas Meier has carved a reputation out as one of the UK’s most original guitarists. Drawing on a love of Turkish, Eastern music, Flamenco, Tango all mix with jazz, Meier has developed his own unique sound with his regular group (latest release was his eight album with his full band.) See Media page for more details.

London based Swiss guitarist Nicolas Meier is one of the stars of a vibrant British jazz scene, his trademark sound, as heard on his MGP Records and Naim albums, a mixture of Methenyesque jazz and spicy Turkish and world music rhythms. 

Meier draws on a multitude of influences: Jazz, Flamenco, Latin and middle-eastern music are all passionately explored in a series of heartfelt acoustic modern jazz originals and all represent part of Meier’s musical and personal world. His wife Songul is Turkish and he has spent time there and in Spain and ‘Orient’ draws on the melodies and rhythms of both countries. Writing in the Guardian, John Fordham described Meier as" elegant in tone and bubbling with ideas... his originality as a writer, a player and a team leader dispatches any doubts" and described his debut album Orient as ‘a seductive balance of strong themes, inventive improvising and dynamic variety’.

Meier’s Turkish wife Songul is a major influence on his music with the composition Last Rose on his debut album Orient a passionate tribute to her and his new album Silence Talks closes with A Rose In The Pyrenees remembering a happy holiday together. And they have travelled together in her home land. “I fell in love with Turkish rhythms, their instruments, their traditional songs and even their pop music which is very different to western pop drawing on eastern influences’ Other influences include pianist Chick Corea (who moves effortlessly between fusion and acoustic contexts) and of course Pat Metheny (who isn’t? asks Meier) but also the classic guitar album  “Friday Night in San Francisco” by Al Di Meola, Paco de Lucia and John McLaughlin.“I loved all the styles they were playing, Latin and tango with Al, Flamenco with Paco, and Indian music with John. Which is one of the reasons that I love all these styles of music and wanted to explore them on this album.”He also cites the great Flamenco guitarist Tomatito as an influence from time spent in Sevilla and Barcelona with his friend and piano player Jose Reinoso.

Meier’s sound is rooted in his love of playing jazz on acoustic guitar, especially his Godin nylon string guitar. It’s a sound that lends itself especially to flamenco and middle-eastern music and it’s all these influences and more that Meier has so brilliantly fused together in his music. He also plays fretless acoustic guitar, which sounds something like a cross between an acoustic guitar and the oud (an Arabic stringed instrument) and the Saz, a traditional Turkish instrument. While his new album also features fretted and steel guitars, Godin glissentar (11 stringed insturment) and a baglama.

Lately Meier had the incredible chance to play alongside one of the most influential guitarist Jeff Beck.

 

Lineup for this gig:

Lawrence Lowe on drums

Kevin Glasgow on bass

Demi Garcia on percussions

Nicolas Meier on acoustic guitar and glissentar

£12.50/£10 Members/Students £5