Edgar Meyer

Biography

Edgar Meyer (born November 24, 1960) is an American bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. He has won seven Grammy Awards and been nominated ten times.
Meyer is a member of the Telluride Bluegrass Festival's "house band" super group, along with Sam Bush, Béla Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, and Bryan Sutton. His collaborators have spanned a wide range of musical styles and talents; among them are Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Yo-Yo Ma, Tessa Lark, Jerry Douglas, Béla Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Sam Bush, Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile, Mike Marshall, Mark O'Connor, Christian McBride, and Emanuel Ax.

Early life

Meyer grew up in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, where he attended Oak Ridge High School. He learned to play the double bass from his father, Edgar Meyer Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the local public school system. Meyer later went on to Indiana University School of Music to study with Stuart Sankey. He graduated in 1984 with a Bachelor of Music (BM).

Career

As a composer, Meyer's music has been premiered and recorded by Emanuel Ax, Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Bela Fleck, Zakir Hussain, Hilary Hahn, and the Emerson String Quartet, among others. The Nashville Symphony and the Aspen Music Festival and School commissioned his first purely orchestral work which was premiered by the Nashville Symphony in March 2017. Additionally, Bravo! Vail and The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields commissioned an Overture for Violin and Orchestra that was premiered by Joshua Bell and ASMF in June 2017.
In 2011, Meyer collaborated on The Goat Rodeo Sessions with Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, and Chris Thile. The album won two 2013 Grammy Awards. Meyer was honored with his fifth Grammy Award in 2015 for his Bass & Mandolin, recording with Thile. Meyer recorded a collection of Bach trios with Thile and Yo-Yo Ma, released in April 2017. In June 2020, the same group of musicians who recorded The Goat Rodeo Sessions released a second album entitled Not Our First Goat Rodeo.
Meyer is Artist in Residence at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music and is on faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music. At Curtis, Meyer taught Punch Brothers bassist and composer Paul Kowert.

Personal life

Edgar Meyer is married to violinist Connie (Cornelia) Heard, and they have one son, George Meyer, who plays the violin.

Solo work

Unfolding (MCA, 1986)
Dreams of Flight (MCA, 1987)
Love of a Lifetime (MCA, 1988)
Work in Progress (MCA, 1990)
Bach: Unaccompanied Cello Suites Performed on Double Bass (Sony Classical, 2000)
Meyer and Bottesini: Concertos (Sony Classical, 2002) – rec. 1998–1999
Edgar Meyer (Sony Classical, 2006) – rec. 2004–2005

As a member

Strength in Numbers

Telluride Sessions (MCA, 1989)

Collaborations

With Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Connor

Appalachia Waltz (Sony Classical, 1996) – rec. 1995
Appalachian Journey (Sony Classical, 2000) – rec. 1999. Won Grammy Award for Best Classical Crossover Album
With Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan and Chris Thile

The Goat Rodeo Sessions (Sony Masterworks, 2011) – Won the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album and the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Not Our First Goat Rodeo (Sony Masterworks, 2020) – rec. 2019
With Yo-Yo Ma and Chris Thile

Bach Trios (Nonesuch, 2017) – rec. 2016
With Chris Thile

Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile (Nonesuch, 2008)
Bass & Mandolin (Nonesuch, 2014) – Won Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album
With Béla Fleck

Perpetual Motion (Sony Classical, 2001) – Won two Grammys
Music for Two (Sony Classical, 2004) – live rec. 2001–2002
With Béla Fleck and Mike Marshall

Uncommon Ritual (Sony Classical, 1997) – rec. 1996–1997
With Béla Fleck and Zakir Hussain

The Melody of Rhythm – Triple Concerto & Music for Trio (Koch, 2009)
With Jerry Douglas and Russ Barenberg

Skip, Hop and Wobble (Sugar Hill, 1993)
With Jerry Douglas and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt

Bourbon and Rosewater (Water Lily Acoustics, 1995) – rec. 1994
With Emanuel Ax, Pamela Frank, Rebeca Young and Yo-Yo Ma

Schubert: Quintet, Op. 114 "The Trout" (Sony Classical, 1996)
With the Emerson String Quartet

Quintet (Deutsche Grammophon, 1998)
Wiith Joshua Bell

Short Trip Home (Sony Classical, 1999) – also with Sam Bush and Mike Marshall. Grammy nominated. rec. 1998.
With Christian McBride

But Who's Gonna Play the Melody? (Mack Avenue, 2024) – rec. 2019–2022
Other collaborations

Béla Fleck, Double Time (Rounder, 1984) – on the song "Lowdown" rec. 1982
The Modern Mandolin Quartet, The Nutcracker Suite (Windham Hill, 1991) – composed "Winter's Chill"
David Grisman, Dawg Duos (Acoustic Disc, 1999)
Hilary Hahn, Hugh Wolff, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Meyer Violin Concertos (Sony Classical, 2000) – composed