Last week, world-renowned double bassist and composer, Edgar Meyer, returned to his home-town of Oak Ridge, TN to give a very special recital, featuring one of his compositions still "in progress." Also on the concert was a suite by Johann Sebastian Bach, and on the second half, "lighter" works, including fiddle tunes, and several of Meyer's own shorter compositions.
Meyer has been hailed by the New Yorker as "...the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument." Comfortable with playing music in almost every genre, his own compositions break the mold of what these genres "should be." In 2001, he recorded a Grammy award-winning album with Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O'Conner and has since, collaborated with some of the world's best musicians, including Joshua Bell, Chris Thile, Bela Fleck, and Zakir Hussain to name just a few.
Melony Dodson spoke with Mr. Meyer by phone to learn a little bit more about his compositional history. Why did he become a composer and who or what were his influences? What was this "work in progress"? And how did he make playing the bass look so easy?!