Nicolas Meier World Group – Magnificent (MGP Records, 2021)
Virtuoso guitarist Nicolas Meier is treating guitar lovers to a triple album of superb music. Nicolas Meier is an outstanding musician and composer. His music incorporates multiple influences, bringing together jazz fusion, world music and other sounds.
Each disc is superb. Disc 1, titled Magnificent, features a fantastic ensemble performing new pieces, recorded in pairs and later combined. Although Meier’s intricate jazz and Middle Eastern-infused guitar work stands out, another highlight is violinist Richard Jones. He seems to channel the beauty and elegance of Jean Luc Ponty. This is a violinist to watch more closely. The band on Disc 1 includes Meier’s multinational London-based World Group, with Swiss-born Nicolas Meier on guitars; Richard Jones on violin; Kevin Glasgow on bass; and Demi Garcia Sabat (Spain) on percussion.
Disc 2 is a live recording made in 2020 at the Colchester Arts Centre. This album by Nicolas Meier World Group includes many of Meier’s finest compositions in a live form.
Lastly, Disc 3 contains 14 unaccompanied Meier solos based on jazz classics and famous hits from ‘La Vie En Rose’, ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ and ‘The Godfather’.
The Magnificent set features landscape paintings created by Meier’s wife, Songul Yilmaz-Meier.
Buy Magnificent