In a world of pop divas, American Idol ballad queens and Celtic Woman retro-folk, Cynthia Sayer is that rarest form of female performer: a red-hot jazz banjo player, singer and pianist who's managed to make her art matter at the highest levels of American pop culture.

Sayer has worked with the likes of Wynton Marsalis, Odetta, Marvin Hamlisch and Les Paul, played with the New York Philharmonic and toured internationally with Woody Allen's New Orleans Jazz Band - not to mention appearing in and performing on movie soundtracks and working with other film and television stars like Bill Cosby.

From March 22-25 Sayer will be featured along with a bevy of national talent at the Early Spring Banjo Fling at Mansfield's Holiday Inn, an annual gathering of traditional jazz and Dixieland afficionados hosted by the Stone Street Strummers Banjo Band of Foxboro. The showcase annually attracts hundreds of players and fans of the music of the early 20th century - when jazz enjoyed its finest hour.

The Early Spring Banjo Fling will include three nights of free concerts open to the public as well as workshops, jamming and vendor displays aimed at musicians and jazz fans plus performances by dozens of regional amateur and professional groups. Other nationally-recognized talents appearing at this year's event include Rob Wright, Kurt Abell, Dave Frey and Steve Caddick.

Sayer, a New York resident who has felt a strong attraction to music since she was a little girl, might never have become a premier jazz player had it not been for her parents' reluctance to have a drummer in the house. "I played several instruments as a kid, including orchestral drums, and after seeing our school dance band I decided I wanted a drum set," she said. "I lobbied hard but my parents said no way, it was just too loud in the house."

Sayer, one of four musically-inclined siblings, persisted. But it was not to be.

"One day I came home from school and there was a banjo on my bed," she said. "I took one look at it and knew it was a bribe."

Rather than rebel Sayer, then 13, decided to go with the flow. She hit it off with her banjo teacher, a jazz lover, and her path was set.

Sayer is more than adept at playing early 20th century jazz although she does not limit herself to the traditional genre. She lists Louis Armstrong, guitarist Django Reinhardt and classic jazz banjoist Elmer Snowden among her strongest influences.

These days Sayer has gained celebrity status both as a banjoist and a jazz artist. She's appeared worldwide at prestige festivals and exclusive engagements that include Carnegie Hall and the White House. Sayer was part of a band that played at the presidential mansion during the Reagan years. Her band also performed last year for President George W. Bush at an affair at the German Embassy.

Besides performing with the Woody Allen band, Sayer appeared in "Wild Man Blues," the award-winning feature film documentary covering Allen's European tour. She's also performed on movie soundtracks including "The Purple Rose of Cairo" and "Sophie's Choice" and has also played banjo with the New York Symphony.

The Dresden International Jazz Festival in 2000 awarded Sayer their trophy for Festival Favorite, tapping her as "a pioneer of a new banjo style...an exceptional artist who, without showy gimmicks, captivates and excites her audiences."

The New York Times enthused that Sayer "... plays with a plunging drive ... and her jazz inflected singing (has) a deep sense of personal involvement."

Sayer has released a number of albums of her music, beginning with "The Jazz Banjo of Cynthia Sayer" in 1988. Her latest CD, "Attractions" is due out this spring. While Sayer relishes jazz, she says the role of the four-string banjo should not be seen as limited to one narrow category of music or another. Although the banjo is well known for its use in bluegrass music and traditional jazz compositions like "Alabama Jubilee," it's equally at home in a variety of modern and classical settings. Sayer has even played banjo parts for symphonic performances of compositions by the American Composer Virgil Thompson and George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue.

Sayer will appear in two concerts at the Early Spring Banjo Fling at the mansfield Holiday Inn. On Thursday, March 22, she will be special guest performer with the Stone Street Strummers in their opening concert of Tin Pan Alley and Broadway showtunes from the 1920s and 30s.

On Saturday, March 24, Sayer will perform her own exclusive concert 7:30 p.m. in the hotel's Buckingham Ballroom.

Additional information about Cynthia Sayer can be found at her web site, www.cynthiasayer.com.