Ryan Cavanaugh

Ryan Cavanaugh & No Man's Land: Ryan Cavanaugh & No Man's Land

by John Kelman
February 7, 2011

Saxophonist Bill Evans may have headed the marquee, but the surprise of his Soulgrass Band's 2007 Ottawa Jazz Festival performance was 27 year-old banjoist Ryan Cavanaugh. In the wake of Béla Fleck, Cavanaugh has emerged as the inevitable next step, continuing to transition the oft-maligned banjo into a bona fide jazz instrument as flexible as its six-string cousin, the guitar. Cavanaugh combines bluegrass technique with a broader jazz vernacular--on occasion resembling a down south incarnation of John McLaughlin. No surprise, ...