Sweet Megg and the Wayfarers take New Orleans jazz as its base, then build something indelible out of it

by Industry staff

In ongoing testimony to the rebirth of jazz that this borough seems to have embraced as part of its beating heart (witness last issue’s profile of the incredible trumpeter Jason Prover), we offer another mainstay in the city small venue community—one that has been improvising and hybridizing the form with other musical styles since they arrived in Brooklyn in 2012. Sweet Megg & The Wayfarers take New Orleans jazz as its base, then build something indelible out of it by stirring in Harlem swing, Parisian cabaret, and gut bucket blues, as Megg’s blowsy vocals explore nuances of the sultry music of the 1920s and 30s, including classics by Edith Piaf, Fats Waller, Billie Holiday, and other legends. The Wayfarers, for their part, bring a rabblerousing, fun-loving approach (featuring saxophonist Ryan Weisheit) and reimagine a world where Sidney Bechet, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker blow side by side.

The band appears frequently in the NYC area at Radegast Hall and Biergarten, The Standard Hotel,
Chez Jef, and the Flatiron, among other venues, and their album, Please Tell Me Everyone’s in Love, is available on the band’s site.

Sweet Megg & The Wayfarers
sweetmeggswayfarers.com