"Oh, I'm Edgar Meyer! I'm so smart! I went to college!"
Edgar Meyer, long one of Nashville’s most respected and versatile studio musicians, has recently made a name for himself as a virtuosic classical/crossover bass player as well, soloing with orchestras across the land. In his latest venture, Meyer has joined up with mandolinist Chris Thile of the “newgrass” band Nickel Creek. Their collaboration juxtaposes the inherent delicacy of the mandolin’s gossamer sound against the fleet but sonorous accompaniment of the upright bass, traversing a remarkably broad musical landscape that touches on the passion and forcefulness of rock, the spontaneity and symbiotic interplay of jazz and the unabashed emotion of folk music.
Last night we saw my favorite bassist and yours, Edgar Meyer,
perform with mandolin player Chris Thile as part of the Duke Performances concert series. I've been looking forward to this for months, and I was not disappointed.
Most of the program consisted of complicated folksy Appalachia Waltz-y type music, although Meyer and Thile threw in several pieces by Bach as well, including an organ concerto (with Edgar playing the left hand, Chris playing the right...although Edgar joked that they could probably switch that up), a gavotte, a rondeau, and a prelude in F sharp (which they played in E "for your listening pleasure...and for our own convenience").
I think it was one of the most extraordinary concerts we have ever attended. Generally, the concerts Dan and I attend can be divided into two categories, classical (Yo-Yo Ma, Hilary Hahn, various symphony orchestras and chamber groups and opera companies) and jazz (Diana Krall, Nicholas Payton, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, etc.). This concert was truly unique because of its crossover style, and the fact that so much of it was improv. The Bach was beautiful, but so were the original tunes by Meyer and Thile - and the latter, frankly, looked and sounded so much harder.
It should be illegal for Edgar Meyer to play the bass like that. Technically, it should NOT be possible. In the program notes, there was a quote from some music critic comparing the double bass to "a lumbering elephant." It can make a beautiful sound, but you don't think of it as a particularly agile instrument - I mean, just look at it; can you imagine hauling that thing around with you? But when Edgar Meyer plays, it's like he's not really playing the bass - and not just because he's capable of notes that sound like they're in the viola range. At several points last night it sounded as though he was playing above the mandolin. And I have no earthly idea how the man's fingers can move that fast - playing the mandolin that quickly, with the aid of a flatpick, is one thing, but the upright bass? There were times when my jaw dropped and I just had to laugh in disbelief. I think Edgar Meyer may, in fact, be a robot. He's the cylon bassist.
Another thing you pick up on watching both Edgar Meyer and Chris Thile is that they are both geniuses, but more than that they are completely in love with their craft. There's a certain joy emanating from them that you can hear and feel and see. And then there was the back-and-forth chitchat onstage, occasionally directed at the audience:
Chris: I've decided that tonight, I will be playing the part of Duke, and Edgar can be Clemson. [to Edgar] We're going to trash you. [throws flatpick at him]
Edgar: ...I thought I got into the music business so I wouldn't have to worry about all that?
Chris: [to audience] We know you're only here because y'all couldn't get into the game tonight.
Edgar: Seriously. Neither could we.
Chris: So we're like, aw, hell, just book a show then.
Anyway...that first piece was a number that Edgar wrote, originally performed with a guy named Joshua Bell. He's real famous. And so is Edgar here - very, very famous.
[long pause]
Edgar: You're famous, Chris. And you're very, very good.
Chris: You're the pretty one.
[another long pause]
Edgar: You're the smart one.
Chris: [laughing] I was not being sarcastic. I was sincerely admiring your appearance.
Edgar: And I your...intellect.
Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer have not yet recorded together, which I think they definitely must do. Mainly because the songs they write together have terribly funny names. "I Wasn't Talking To You." "Please Don't Feed the Bear." And my personal favorite, "F sharp fast-slow #5." I mean, where do they come up with this stuff? I guess that's why they are the musical geniuses, and I just go to watch them play.
P.S. John, are you the one who once told me that Edgar Meyer plays with a very cheap bow held together with Scotch tape?? I think it must have been you, because you're also the one who told me that Yo-Yo Ma once left his cello in a taxicab. And that Joshua Bell is an ass. ;)
Comments
Yes, I am the one that told you Edgar Meyer plays with a very cheap bow held together (in two places, incidentally) by scotch tape. If it's not true, it's because he lied.
When I was in high school, I went to the IU String Academy several years in a row. The first year I went, Joshua Bell was the big concert for the session. Some unknown guy named Edgar Meyer was playing with him. And I thought it said he was playing bass, but I doubt it and don't really remember - a bass isn't that interesting. Turns out, not only does he play the bass, but he plays it like no one else alive. He is truly amazing. In fact, at the end of the summer, I was considerably more fond of Edgar than of Josh (who, by the way, also went to school with my teacher - me and Josh, we're like this).
We were fortunate enough have a master class with Edgar. It was very inspiring, and he recounted several stories, including the one about his bow. He also played one of his Amalgamation's for Bass, which if you've never heard, is truly amazing...
I also remember him playing Ziguenerweisen (by Sarasate). It is a tough piece on violin (I only played in my Freshman year of college). I can't imagine what it is like on the violin. Well, perhaps I can - DAMN HARD. And I mean DAAAAAAMN HARD. And it was amazing.
The guy is crazy. Most of the time, it looks like he's giving his bass a big hug because he's playing so high on the fingerboard he has to bend down. I think he has a special fingerboard that is actually longer (from frog to bridge) on the upper strings so he can play incredibly high notes on the fingerboard and not "flying without a net" over the body of the instrument.
My connections with Edgar: he has recorded with my teacher (an AWESOME recording with some big names) and he gets his bass serviced at the same shop as I do (the best place in the southwest). So yeah, you could pretty much say we're like brothers.
Glad you enjoyed his concert - wish I could have been there.
He was an unknown, you say? I thought everyone pretty much knew who Edgar Meyer was. He does play the bass like no one else alive - you can't realize, just listening to his recordings, how he looks when he playing, bending over and wrapping his arms around the bass. It was crazygonuts, as Dan and I like to say.
I think Joshua Bell has funny hair.
Well, I don't know how much I remember. He said that he has had his bow since he was a kid - it was the first bow he got with his first bass. It was nothing special; fiberglass or something. But he really likes it because of how it speaks. He has broken it twice (hence the tap), and both times it splintered and was un-repairable by an instrument technician, so he just taped it. To me it really indicates that he is incredibly down to earth. He doesn't need the fanciest, most expensive instruments to play. He also said he had tried some incredibly expensive bows in his day, but none compared.
When I saw him, it was in the early 90s, when he really was unknown. This was before all his major recordings.
To be completely honest, that's all I remember. I'll try to conjure up more memories...