Welcome to Edgar's Page,
a tribute to
Edgar Meyer
Last updated: Nov 10 2008

Sam, Edgar, Bela, Jerry, Bryan Sutton and Luke Bulla performed at Bonnaroo 06/13/08 under the title Bluegrass Allstars, which is the name used before Telluride Sessions was issued.  The set consisted mostly of BG songs. No BG Chamber Music, except for Lochs.

On Feb 21 08 Edgar performed at Carnegie Hall with Bobby McFerrin and two members of Alison Krauss' band, Sierra Hull and Ron Block.  Alison was a no-show because of illness.

The Triple Concerto for Banjo, Double Bass and Tabla premiered on Sept 9  2006 at the opening of the new Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville, with Edgar, Bela & Zakir Hussain.  Tickets were $2,500 apiece, by invitation only.  Fortunately, the local PBS station broadcast it live.

The interview by Brittany Frompovitch made in Sept 95 is now available at http://www.ladybassmusic.net/edgar_meyer_interview.html.  Highly recommended.

 Now available: Edgar Meyer.  On this album, Edgar plays double bass, piano, mandolin, banjo, guitar, dobro and gamba.  Uses up to 12 overdubs.  Also composer, arranger and producer.

Edgar/Bela: Music for Two, Apr 27 04.
A L L   R I G H T !

For reviews of the Concerto for Banjo, Bass and Orchestra, click HERE.

Recent Releases:
1. Mendelssohn: Sextet in D for Strings & Piano, Op 110
CMSLC, Delos 3236
Recorded at First Congregational Church in LA.  It was performed in Portland with CMNW 7/12-13/01, so recording may have been made at some time close to that.
2. Tim O'Brien: Traveler, SH 3978 released 08/12/03.  Edgar plays on 2 cuts.
3. Adagio: A Windham Hill Collection WH11648 released 3/4/03 has Bach's Prelude in C-Sharp Minor from the Well-Tempered Clavier Book II played by Edgar and Mike Marshall.  This is apparently an original release.

Concerto No 2 for Doublebass and Orchestra

This Concerto was performed with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra on April 8 06 in Alex Theatre (the West Coast premiere) and April 9 in  Royce Hall.  It is labeled the 2006 version, which indicates it has been revised.

This was premiered with the IRIS Chamber Orchestra (who commissioned it) in Germantown TN on April 12 2003.  On listening to it, there is no doubt that Edgar wrote it.  It contains a lot of solo segments, and duets with woodwinds. The writing for the orchestra is considerably more involved than previous works.  The most interesting feature of the piece is that it makes use of a new instrument, as yet unnamed, developed by Edgar and Nashville percussionist Sam Bacco (Sam is the principle percussionist with the Nashville Symphony, and shows up as a session man on many recordings, such as NGR Friday Night, Mark O'Connor New Nashville Cats, most of the CDs by Travis Tritt, THE GARTH, etc).  It consists of 73 tuned PVC pipes, which are hit by mallets.  It is tuned in 1/4 steps, so it covers three octaves.  PVC was selected over other materials such as wood or steel because it has the desired feature of a short sustain.  This leaves an open space for the bass to fill.  There are several interesting duets with Edgar & Sam (according to Sam, they were "mostly" written out).  I couldn't tell if Edgar was playing in 1/4 steps during these.  Since the instrument is a cross between a marimba and some other percusssion instrument whose name I didn't understand, the name of "Meyerimba" has been considered.

EDGAR AWARDED MacARTHUR GRANT
Edgar has been granted the prestigous MacArthur (Genius) grant!!!
Good for $500,000 over 5 years, it will allow Edgar to do just what he wants to
(as if he weren't already doing that).

The Nashville Symphony premiered a Concerto for Double Bass & Banjo by Edgar & Bela on Nov 7-8 2003

The November/December 2002 issue of Strings had a Master Class by Edgar, in which he offers tips on playing.

The November 2002 issue of Bass Player has an article about Edgar.  Has information on fingering techniques and mike placement.  The teaser on the cover quotes him as saying "Good taste can be a waste of time".  The statement that he received two Grammys with Bela and Mike Marshall for Uncommon Ritual is, of course, not true.  They may have confused that CD with Perpetual Motion.  His association is with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, not the New York Chamber Music Society.

The Sept/Oct 2002 issue of Fanfare has a good interview with Edgar, and a favorable review of the Concertos CD.

SHEET MUSIC
The following sheet music is available at Mark O'Connor's web site http://www.markoconnor.com (about $5):
Appalachia Waltz
Butterfly's Day Out
Chief Sitting In the Rain
College Hornpipe
Old Country Fairytale
Poem for Carlita
Caprice for Three
Vistas
Limerock
Fisher's Hornpipe

Boosey & Hawkes http://www.boosey.com list 48 items in their Complete Catalogue, none in their Sales Catalogue, and 4 in their Rental Catalogue (Concerto for Double Bass, Double Concerto, Violin Concerto, Quintet).  I haven't figured out yet if they have any of Edgar's sheet music for sale.
Edgar's comments on publishing (Frompovich, A Talk with Edgar Meyer, 1997): "Eventually I'll be doing the piano and bass music.  I'm not sure at what point I would publish the chamber music and concertos.  Part of it is my temperament; I have a very, very hard hard time with performances with those pieces even when I am there and can guide every note.  The idea of them going on when I'm not there guiding every note; it is very hard to imagine that they would come out in a way that even resembles (doesn't say what),  A large percentage of the material I write today is involved with very specific ways of playing the instrument and sounds that I can hear in my head but I can't totally notate.  But there are a lot of things in between the notes and not just nuances or pitch related things or slides.  It is a whole sense of phrasing and timing that is important to these pieces.  That phrasing and timing is very hard to get right.  Even in performances when I'm there it is very hard to get it all played all that right.  I'm not sure that this music lends itself to being played widely.  I think it is very idomatic for the way I do things.  I know it's a little strange but to me it's almost like a diary; it's what I've worked on and what I've done.  It wasn't ever envisioned as something that would be played by a lot of people."

The Autumn 2001 Double Bassist  Autumn has sheet music for the first movement of Edgar's Concert Duo for Violin and Double bass.  If you are interested in this, please contact me.

An article on Edgar appears in the June 2002 issue of Current Biography.  Crammed full of factual information.  You will probably have to go to your library to see it.

Now out: the Concerto CD:
1. Edgar's Double Concerto for Bass and Cello with Yo-Yo Ma
2. Bottesini's Bass Concerto No 2
3. Edgar's Bass Concerto
4. Bottessini's Grand Duo Concertante with Joshua Bell

GRAMMY WINS
Edgar and Bela received Grammys for Instrumental Arrangement for Doctor Gradus....  and for Classical Crossover Album for Perpetual Motion.
 

Edgar is on two new dynamite albums: Bela Fleck's classical Perpetual Motion (Sony SK89610) and Chris Thile's Not All Who Wander Are Lost (Sugar Hill 3931).  Perpetual Motion was the basis for Edgar & Bela's tour in February.  David Royko, who knows, says Thile's  is one of the top 10 New Acoustic/Newgrass albums of all time.  If you want to be on the cutting edge of music, you must have both of them.
 

Edgar received the prestigious 2000 Avery Fisher Prize (worth $50,000) (only 16 individuals have won it in 26 years).  Also honored was David Shifrin, clarinetist on Edgar's new Trio.

The Bach Unaccompanied Cello Suites CD is out. It contains # 1,2 & 5.  1 (D) and 2 (G) are played at pitch.  5 (c Minor) is played in b Minor.

The Sony website at http://www.edgarmeyer.com doesn't come up now.  Don't know what the stroy is.

Congratulations to Roger Silverstein.  He has completed the task of listening to every known (as listed in the Discography) issued cut that Edgar plays on!  Some of the rare obscure stuff he listened to at the Library of Congress.

Edgar's Trio for Clarinet, Cello & Bass had its world premiere Jan 26 01 in U of Chicago Mandel Hall by the Chamber Music Society Of Lincoln Center.    Commissioned by CMNW & CMSLC.  Does anybody have a tape of a broadcast?
 

Looking for Edgar MCA CDs? Try YorkTR@aol.com

OK Kiddies, we now have six indispensible CDs out:
Edgar Meyer
Concertos
Bela Fleck: Perpetual Motion
Appalachian Journey
Violin Concerto (Hilary Hahn soloist)
Bach Unaccompanied Suites for Cello # 1, 2, 5

"With works like Appalachia Waltz and Short Trip Home under his belt, Edgar Meyer should start to be taken as seriously as a composer and arranger as he is the world's foremost classical/new acoustic bassist." Michael Parrish, Dirty Linen Feb/Mar 00

Edgar wrote the music for The Lesson of the Land, the story of a Native American boy coming of age, with text by Jamake Highwater.  It is on Sony Classical 6022283 Listen to the Storyteller.

WORKS IN PROGRESS

a piece for Joshua Bel

a piece for bass and woodwind octet

Will record (or maybe already has) Sweet Talk, a work by Richard Danielpour with text by Toni Morrison. With Jessye Norman, Emanuel Ax, Yo-Yo Ma. Premiered April 97 at Carnegie Hall
(have not heard any news on this for some time.  May be on the shelf)

an album designed to teach children about orchestra music (also may be on the shelf)

A BIASED TESTIMONIAL

HELP!!
I am looking for tapes of the following:
String Trio #2
String Trio #3
Amalgamations for Solo Bass (complete)
Trout Variations
Trio for Clarinet, Cello and Double Bass
Concerto for Double Bass No 2
Concerto for Banjo and Double Bass

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE 
edgarmeyer.com
Sony
Pollstar
CMSLC
CMNW

Concerts in New York City with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMSLC) are in Alice Tully Hall.
Concerts in Portland with the Chamber Music Northwest (CMNW) are normallly in the Kaul Auditorium of Reed College and/or the Cabell Center Theater of Catlin Gabel School.

Haven't found any detail on some of these appearances yet.  There are probably many other appearances w Chris Thile in the time period 09/25-10/29

DISCOGRAPHY
Edgar Meyer Discography (by Wendell Norman)
(includes a section on video)

INTERVIEWS AND ARTICLES

CO-CONSPIRATORS

Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
Bela Fleck (by Wendell Norman)
Jerry Douglas Official Site
Jerry Douglas (by Brad Bechtel)
Sam Bush (by Wendell Norman
Yo-Yo Ma
Joshua Bell (by Cindy)
Mike Marshall
 

PHOTOS
Acoustic Stage Feb 13 99
Nat Torkington: Edgar, Mike, Sam, Joshua at Denver Jun 26 1998
David Schenk: Station Inn Mar 28 97

If you have some good photos available on the web that should be listed here, let me know

DISCUSSION GROUPS & WEBZINES
on which Edgar is sometimes mentioned

TalkBass.com

Newgrass-L@YahooGroups.com
subscribe at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NewGrass-L

Agent
IMG Artists
825 Seventh Avenue
New York NY 10019