Nicolas Meier World Group
Elysian Drift
by Howard Lawes 

On his way home Nic donated the guitar to local children. In contrast to the joyful night in the desert, the death of Jeff Beck in 2023 was a great sadness. Nic Meier was part of Jeff Beck’s band during the period 2013 to 2015 including the Live in Japan tour and you can see him playing with Beck here. The tune being played, Yemin, was recorded as a track on Meier’s album Yüz (2007) and it was this tune, performed by Meier at Ronnie Scott’s, that brought Meier to Beck’s attention and led to his recruitment into Beck’s band. Meier paid tribute to Beck with the track Legend (for Jeff Beck) on his album Infinity (2016) and then created a whole album in his memory called Last Sunset (2024) with a band that included some former bandmates from Jeff Beck’s band.

 

Growing up in Switzerland, like many young musicians, Nic first learned to play classical music before discovering the rock music of Iron Maiden and Metallica. However, Nic’s father played jazz saxophone and Nic took advantage of the family record collection to discover the likes of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Jobim, who was a particular favourite. Jazz became Nic’s primary interest, which he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, graduating in 1998. Guitarist John McLaughlin, a leader in the development jazz-rock fusion, was a great influence along with Al di Meola and Paco de Lucia. However, Nic Meier’s first album, released in 2004, was fusion with a difference, performing The Four Seasons by Vivaldi arranged for the Modern Guitar Orchestra. Guitarist John Etheridge featured as a guest soloist on two additional tracks written by Meier.

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Travelling in Europe and Asia Nic became fascinated in Turkish music, as Dave Brubeck had done (Blue Rondo a la Turk), and learned to play the Turkish saz (or baglama). The traditional music of the region has a different basis to western music and features musical modes (maqams) with microtonal intervals. Later travels have led to the discovery of Indonesian music and collaboration with Dewa Budjana, a musician who has successfully fused traditional Balinese scales with jazz and rock. Over the last 20 or more years Nic Meier has established himself as the top UK based guitarist fusing jazz with the music from the Balkans, Turkey and the Middle East, Asia, Spain and Latin America. To do so he employs a large collection of guitars including fretted and fretless nylon-string, steel-string,2-string guitars, and glissentar (an eleven string, fretless guitar) and jazz guitar. He has participated as leader or sideman in at least 35 albums, self-producing both his own and the recordings of several others on his MGP label. This latest album, Elysian Drift, features 10 original and 2 familiar tunes, all of which recall people, emotions or places. The late movie star Charlie Chaplin lived in Switzerland, near Nic Meier’s childhood home. Chaplin’s house has now been turned into a museum, which Nic and Sungol visited, prompting the choice of the tune Smile, for the first track of the album.