Comments

There are no comments yet. Click here to start the conversation!

STORY TOOLS

• E-mail story
• Printer friendly

More Music News

• Jennifer Lopez, Adam Lambert ready for AMA stage
• Big Country's Empty Bottle ready to kick into gear
• Ashley Cleveland's spirit continues to be nourished by rock

Share and Enjoy

Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck and Zakir Hussain are recognized as masters of their instruments - double bass, banjo and tabla, respectively. For any other musicians, the musical combination might seem daunting. However, with these three, the challenge has always been part of the fun. None of them have ever let themselves be boxed in by expectations or artificial boundaries. And, says Meyer, it has never been about simply showing off technique.

"You're always trying to create something that's beautiful," says Meyer. "In a way that's a cop-out, but it's also simply true. In a situation like this it creates more opportunity to do that."

A graduate of Oak Ridge High School, Meyer was first inspired to play double bass by listening to his father Ed Meyer (now deceased) play the instrument. Edgar began at age 5 and excelled on the instrument before reaching high school - and, like his father, Meyer loved both classical and jazz. In the next few years, he began playing all types of music and fell in with a group of like-minded Nashville-based virtuosos which included New Grass Revival members Bela Fleck and Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (dobro) and Mark O'Connor (violin).

Meyer has since become the most celebrated player of the double bass, being the only double bass player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize for excellence in music (in 2000) and earning a MacArthur Award (nicknamed "the Genius Award") in 2002.

He says the collaboration with Hussain and Fleck came about in 2004 after the Nashville Symphony asked Meyer and longtime friend Fleck to write a new piece to perform with the symphony - and to include a guest.

"Those things take a tremendous amount of effort, so we were not in a hurry, but the idea of having Zakir made it impossible for us to not do it," says Meyer. "That was probably the one person who made it the opportunity of a lifetime. From that point on it's just been an extension of that. We've just enjoyed everything we've done, and we try to do more of it."

It would seem that Meyer has sought out unusual instruments to perform with, but that isn't the case.

"More important than the instrument is who's playing it," says Meyer. "Zakir is a very big personality, and he's extremely accomplished. Working with Zakir is not just working with 'a tabla.'"

Meyer says that technique and listenability shouldn't be in conflict.

"I think it's a mistake to think that someone without technique can express themselves fully. everything has to be in harmony. They enable each other."

While all three have written note-specific musical works, Meyer says that isn't the focus of this project.

"In this trio the main aesthetic is let people play what they want. Over three-fourths of the time each person is allowed to figure out the part as they wish. If you want to call it Western classical music then it's music with three composers ... The common thread is we're interested in a wide spectrum of music and we're all fully engaged."

Wayne Bledsoe may be reached at 865-342-6444 or bledsoe@knews.com. He is also the host of 'All Over the Road' midnight Saturdays to 4 a.m. Sundays on WDVX-FM.

© 2009, Knoxville News Sentinel
Want to use this article? Click here for options!