Edgar Meyer
Encyclopedia
Edgar Meyer is a prominent contemporary bassist
and composer
. His styles include classical, bluegrass
, newgrass
, and jazz
. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber
groups, a composer, and an arranger
. His collaborators have spanned a wide range of musical styles and talents; among them are Joshua Bell
, Yo-Yo Ma
, Béla Fleck
, Zakir Hussain
, Sam Bush
, James Taylor
, Chris Thile
, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor
, Alison Krauss
, Mary Chapin Carpenter
, and the trio Nickel Creek
.
. He learned to play the double bass from his father, the late Edgar Meyer, Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the local public school system. Meyer later went on to Indiana University
to study with Stuart Sankey
.
Meyer is noted for achieving virtuosity
on an instrument of unusual technical difficulty. Following in the footsteps of other bass players like Gary Karr
and Mark Bernat before him, he has tried a hand at performing music originally composed for other instruments, such as Bach
's unaccompanied cello
suites.
Meyer has also composed a number of works, including two double bass
concertos, a string quintet, a double concerto
for bass
and cello
, and a violin
concerto
in 1999 composed specifically for Hilary Hahn
.
In 2000, he won the Avery Fisher Prize
, given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement. In 2002, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Meyer's collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma
and Mark O'Connor
on the widely acclaimed Sony Classical disc Appalachia Waltz
reached the top of the United States
pop charts for 16 weeks when it was released. Meyer collaborated again with Yo-Yo Ma
and Mark O'Connor
on Appalachian Journey, that earned a Grammy Award
for Best Classical Crossover Album.
On Meyer's self-titled 2006 Sony Classical release, he performs accompanied only by himself on a wide variety of instruments besides his usual piano
and double bass
, including guitar
, banjo
, viola da gamba, mandolin
and dobro
.
Meyer is Adjunct Associate Professor of Double Bass at Vanderbilt University
's Blair School of Music
, as well as at the Curtis Institute
.
With Jerry Douglas
and Russ Barenberg
With Béla Fleck and Mike Marshall
With Yo-Yo Ma
and Mark O'Connor
With Joshua Bell
With David Grisman
With Béla Fleck
With Béla Fleck
and Zakir Hussain
With Chris Thile
With Emanuel Ax
, Pamela Frank
, Rebeca Young, and Yo-Yo Ma
With Yo-Yo Ma
, Stuart Duncan
and Chris Thile
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
. His styles include classical, bluegrass
Bluegrass music
Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
, newgrass
Progressive bluegrass
Progressive bluegrass is one of two major subgenres of bluegrass music. It is also known as newgrass, a term attributed to New Grass Revival member Ebo Walker. Musicians and bands John Hartford, New Grass Revival, J.D. Crowe and the New South, The Dillards, Boone Creek, Country Gazette, and the...
, and jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
groups, a composer, and an arranger
Arranger
In investment banking, an arranger is a provider of funds in the syndication of a debt. They are entitled to syndicate the loan or bond issue, and may be referred to as the "lead underwriter". This is because this entity bears the risk of being able to sell the underlying securities/debt or the...
. His collaborators have spanned a wide range of musical styles and talents; among them are Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
, Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain (musician)
Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...
, Sam Bush
Sam Bush
Sam Bush is an American bluegrass mandolin player considered an originator of the Newgrass style.- History :...
, James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....
, Chris Thile
Chris Thile
Christopher Scott Thile is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. His current band is Punch Brothers whose most recent album is Antifogmatic...
, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
, Alison Krauss
Alison Krauss
Alison Maria Krauss is an American bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She entered the music industry at an early age, winning local contests by the age of ten and recording for the first time at fourteen. She signed with Rounder Records in 1985 and released her first solo album in...
, Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
, and the trio Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek
Nickel Creek was an American progressive acoustic music trio consisting of Chris Thile , Sara Watkins and Sean Watkins . The band was founded in 1989 and released 6 albums between 1993 and 2006...
.
Biography
Meyer grew up in Oak Ridge, TennesseeOak Ridge, Tennessee
Oak Ridge is a city in Anderson and Roane counties in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Tennessee, about west of Knoxville. Oak Ridge's population was 27,387 at the 2000 census...
. He learned to play the double bass from his father, the late Edgar Meyer, Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the local public school system. Meyer later went on to Indiana University
Indiana University Bloomington
Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, in the United States. IU Bloomington is the flagship campus of the Indiana University system. Being the flagship campus, IU Bloomington is often referred to simply as IU or Indiana...
to study with Stuart Sankey
Stuart Sankey
Stuart Sankey was one of foremost pedagogues of the double bass. His students included Gary Karr, the first bass player of the modern era to make a career as a solo artist, and Edgar Meyer. He taught for nearly 50 years at the Aspen Music School. He also held teaching positions at the University...
.
Meyer is noted for achieving virtuosity
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
on an instrument of unusual technical difficulty. Following in the footsteps of other bass players like Gary Karr
Gary Karr
Gary Karr b. November 20, 1941 in Los Angeles, California, is an American classical double bass virtuoso and teacher.- Biography :Although he comes from seven generations of bassists, he was not encouraged by them to go into music...
and Mark Bernat before him, he has tried a hand at performing music originally composed for other instruments, such as Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's unaccompanied cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
suites.
Meyer has also composed a number of works, including two double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
concertos, a string quintet, a double concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
for bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, and a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
in 1999 composed specifically for Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn
Hilary Hahn is an American violinist.Hahn was born in Lexington, Virginia. Beginning her studies when she was three years old at Baltimore's Peabody Institute, she was admitted to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at age ten, and in 1991, made her major orchestral debut with the...
.
In 2000, he won the Avery Fisher Prize
Avery Fisher Prize
The Avery Fisher Prize is an award given to American musicians for outstanding achievement in classical music. Founded by philanthropist Avery Fisher in 1974, it is regarded as one of the most significant awards for American instrumentalists. The award is decided by members of the Avery Fisher...
, given once every few years to classical instrumentalists for outstanding achievement. In 2002, he was named a MacArthur Fellow. Meyer's collaboration with Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
and Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
on the widely acclaimed Sony Classical disc Appalachia Waltz
Appalachia Waltz
Appalachia Waltz is the first album from the trio of fiddler and composer Mark O'Connor, double-bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Sony Classical released the disc in 1996. The album announces a new kind of Americana-styled Western art music, with ancestry in old-timey,...
reached the top of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pop charts for 16 weeks when it was released. Meyer collaborated again with Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
and Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
on Appalachian Journey, that earned a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
for Best Classical Crossover Album.
On Meyer's self-titled 2006 Sony Classical release, he performs accompanied only by himself on a wide variety of instruments besides his usual piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and double bass
Double bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
, including guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
, viola da gamba, mandolin
Mandolin
A mandolin is a musical instrument in the lute family . It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family. The mandolin soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. A mandolin may have f-holes, or a single...
and dobro
Dobro
Dobro is a registered trademark, now owned by Gibson Guitar Corporation and used for a particular design of resonator guitar.The name has a long and involved history, interwoven with that of the resonator guitar...
.
Meyer is Adjunct Associate Professor of Double Bass at Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University
Vanderbilt University is a private research university located in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1873, the university is named for shipping and rail magnate "Commodore" Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided Vanderbilt its initial $1 million endowment despite having never been to the...
's Blair School of Music
Blair School of Music
The Blair School of Music provides undergraduate conservatory-style education in music performance, theory, and history at Vanderbilt University, a major research university located in Nashville, Tennessee...
, as well as at the Curtis Institute
Curtis Institute of Music
The Curtis Institute of Music is a conservatory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that offers courses of study leading to a performance Diploma, Bachelor of Music, Master of Music in Opera, and Professional Studies Certificate in Opera. According to statistics compiled by U.S...
.
Discography
Solo work- Unfolding (1986)
- Work in Progress (1990)
- Dreams of Flight (1996)
- Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double BassBach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double BassBach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double Bass is a contemporary classical album released by the double bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer. Throughout the album, Meyer plays 3 of JS Bach's famous Cello Suites...
(2000) - Meyer and Bottesini Concertos (2002)
- Edgar MeyerEdgar Meyer (album)Edgar Meyer is the 2006 solo album from the artist of the same name. Unlike Meyer's other albums, Meyer is the only musician on this album, accompanying himself on double-bass, piano, mandolin, dobro, guitar and gamba...
(2006)
With Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas
Jerry Douglas may refer to:*Jerry Douglas , actor, who was on The Young and the Restless for 25 years*Jerry Douglas, country/bluegrass musician*Jerry Douglas , director and writer of adult films such as, Score...
and Russ Barenberg
Russ Barenberg
Russ Barenberg is a Grammy-nominated American bluegrass musician.-Biography:Barenberg began playing guitar at age 13, taking lessons from Alan Miller, whose brother John Miller Barenberg he would later play with. His style was heavily influenced by the flatpicking technique of Clarence White. He...
- Skip, Hop, and Wobble (1993)
With Béla Fleck and Mike Marshall
- Uncommon RitualUncommon RitualUncommon Ritual is the second album released by Sony Classical of string trios, following Appalachia Waltz, with unusual instrumentation and influences from bluegrass and folk music to create an Americana-style of traditional classical music. Uncommon Ritual adds jazz, blues, and elements from...
(1997)
With Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
and Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor
Mark O'Connor is an American bluegrass, jazz, country and classical violinist fiddler, composer and music teacher. O'Connor's music is wide-ranging, critically acclaimed, and he has received numerous awards for both his playing and his composition...
- Appalachia WaltzAppalachia WaltzAppalachia Waltz is the first album from the trio of fiddler and composer Mark O'Connor, double-bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Sony Classical released the disc in 1996. The album announces a new kind of Americana-styled Western art music, with ancestry in old-timey,...
(1997) - Appalachian JourneyAppalachian JourneyAppalachian Journey is the second album from the string trio of bassist and composer Edgar Meyer, fiddler and composer Mark O'Connor, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma. James Taylor and Alison Krauss join the trio individually on two Stephen Foster songs arranged for the trio. Sony Classical released the disc...
(2000)- Won Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover AlbumGrammy Award for Best Classical Crossover AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album was awarded from 1999 to 2011.The award will be discontinued from 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Basically, the Best Classical Crossover Album category will disappear. If a classical crossover release is a non-classical artist...
- Won Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album
With Joshua Bell
Joshua Bell
Joshua David Bell is an American Grammy Award-winning violinist.-Childhood:Bell was born in Bloomington, Indiana, United States, the son of a psychologist and a therapist. Bell's father is the late Alan P...
- Short Trip HomeShort Trip HomeShort Trip Home is an album of classical chamber music by a quartet unusual both for its membership and its instrumentation. Double bassist Edgar Meyer wrote the majority of the compositions recorded on the album for a quartet of violin, double bass, mandolin, and guitar...
(1999)- Grammy nominated
With David Grisman
David Grisman
David Grisman is an American bluegrass/newgrass mandolinist and composer of acoustic music. In the early 1990s, he started the Acoustic Disc record label in an effort to preserve and spread acoustic or instrumental music.-Biography:Grisman grew up in Hackensack, New Jersey...
- Dawg DuosDawg DuosDawg Duos is a collaborative bluegrass album by David Grisman and 12 different artists, released in 1999. Each of them performs a duo with Grisman on mandolin or mandola. The instruments are as diverse as drums, accordion, autoharp, besides banjo, guitar, bass and violin.[]...
(1999)
With Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
- Perpetual MotionPerpetual Motion (album)Perpetual Motion is an album of classical music released in 2001. The album is unique in that none of the pieces featured on it are played on the instruments for which they were written. Arrangers Béla Fleck and Edgar Meyer won a Grammy in 2002 for their arrangement of Claude Debussy's "Doctor...
(2001)- Won two GrammysGrammy Award for Best Classical Crossover AlbumThe Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album was awarded from 1999 to 2011.The award will be discontinued from 2012 in a major overhaul of Grammy categories. Basically, the Best Classical Crossover Album category will disappear. If a classical crossover release is a non-classical artist...
- Won two Grammys
- B Song (Live at Bonnaroo 2002)
- Music for TwoMusic For TwoMusic for Two is an album of duets by Edgar Meyer and Béla Fleck created and recorded while touring to support Perpetual Motion and released by Sony Classical in 2004. Most of the pieces are original compositions by Meyer and Fleck, working alone and together. They also perform four of their...
(2004)
With Béla Fleck
Béla Fleck
Béla Anton Leoš Fleck is an American banjo player. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most innovative and technically proficient banjo players, he is best known for his work with the bands New Grass Revival and Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.-Early life and career details:Fleck was born in...
and Zakir Hussain
Zakir Hussain (musician)
Zakir Hussain , , is an Indian tabla player, musical producer, film actor and composer.-Early life:Hussain was born in Mumbai, India to the legendary tabla player Alla Rakha. He attended St...
- The Melody of Rhythm - Triple Concerto & Music for Trio (2009)
With Chris Thile
Chris Thile
Christopher Scott Thile is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. His current band is Punch Brothers whose most recent album is Antifogmatic...
- Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile (2008)
With Emanuel Ax
Emanuel Ax
Emanuel Ax is a Grammy-winning American classical pianist. He is currently a teacher on the faculty of the Juilliard School. He is considered one of the best known concert pianists of the 21st century.-Early life:...
, Pamela Frank
Pamela Frank
Pamela Frank is an American violinist, equally well known as a soloist and as a proponent of chamber music.-Biography:She was born in New York City, the daughter of two pianists, Claude Frank and Lilian Kallir. She studied under Shirley Givens using the Givens Method, unlike many of her...
, Rebeca Young, and Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
- Schubert: Quintet, Op. 114 "The Trout" (1996)
With Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan
Stuart Duncan is a bluegrass musician who plays the fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo. Born in Quantico, Virginia and raised in Santa Paula, California, where he played in the school band, he has been a member of the Nashville Bluegrass Band since 1985, and is a much-in-demand session musician...
and Chris Thile
Chris Thile
Christopher Scott Thile is an American musician, best known as the mandolinist and a singer for the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek. His current band is Punch Brothers whose most recent album is Antifogmatic...
- The Goat Rodeo SessionsThe Goat Rodeo SessionsThe Goat Rodeo Sessions is a 2011 collaborative album by Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile. The album is Ma's third collaboration with Meyer.-Conception and production:...
(2011)