Bassist Edgar Meyer Is a Featured Player at This Week's Laguna Beach Music Festival

Edgar Meyer.

The gentleman is a MacArthur Fellowship recipient and three-time Grammy award winner who’s played alongside the likes of Joshua Bell, Yo-Yo Ma, Bela Fleck, Chris Thile, Mark O’Connor, Alison Krauss, and Mary Chapin Carpenter, among numerous others. He’s a renowned double bass (acoustic) player, composer and music instructor whom The New Yorker boldly proclaimed “the most remarkable virtuoso in the relatively unchronicled history of his instrument.”

Impressive, indeed. While some may find such accolades and their resulting expectations a bit daunting, the 51-year-old Meyer uses these measures of success to further fuel his creative drive. At the very core of his professional world is a restless desire to reach the edge of the cliff to see what’s there.

“I’m really not intimidated by the recognition for my accomplishments and any burden it may bring along with it,” Meyer tells Laguna Beach Patch via phone call from Boston, where he performed the night before at the House of Blues as part of The Goat Rodeo Sessions touring ensemble, also featuring mandolinist Chris Thile, fiddler Stuart Duncan and cellist Yo-Yo Ma (plus adjunct vocalist Aoife O’Donovan.) “It’s more intimidating to be incredibly aware of my own faults, which happens to me everyday because success is a moving target. I’m still focusing on improving and learning things that have proved to be elusive.”

Meyer’s musical awakening has stemmed from genre-hopping and the accompanying risk-taking that has defined his career. Whether composing classical concertos or contributing to three critically-praised American roots music releases (2000’s Appalachian Journey, 1999’s Short Trip Home and 1997’s Appalachia Waltz,) Meyer pursues stylistically unusual connections to help propel his musical growth.

Most recently, Meyer teamed up with Thile, Duncan, and Ma for the making of last year’s genre-bending release, The Goat Rodeo Sessions. The unique collection was recorded at James Taylor’s studio in the Berkshires (Massachusetts) and the result is an eclectic, spirited mix of classical and bluegrass music. As the title implies—goat rodeo is a situation so chaotic that it would take a miracle for everything to work out—a string quartet featuring the mandolin could have caused a stylistic train wreck. So how did it all come together so beautifully?

Mainly by not over-thinking and letting it unfold naturally, suggests Meyer.

“To me, the process of being involved in a diverse musical landscape is a natural one,” he says. “There are some areas (styles) that you can certainly cover better than others ... things that I’m more naturally inclined to do. But it doesn’t take any forethought or training to crossover and push yourself into new directions. Over time, you can actually acquire the skills to be genre-proof. I believe that it’s more unnatural to limit yourself to one musical sphere.”

Personalities and egos have been known to clash when it comes to combining star power. (Anyone remember the Traveling Wilburys or Cream?) But for The Goat Rodeo Sessions, says Meyer, everyone had a voice in the creative process, and it was a true group effort with equal helpings of late nights, learning and laughs.

“It was a blast. I enjoyed the process so much because we were making music that was jointly conceived and executed,” Meyer explains. “The idea or goal was to feel and breathe as one person—that is, to create a cohesive work while respecting our individual voices.”

“We all like to take calculated risks because you want to come out (as) different people than when you walked in. We’ve gotten to the point where we (musically) know each other well enough that we can intuitively play off each other’s improvisations.” (Fittingly, Yo-Yo Ma has stated that as musicians, they practice intuition all their lives. And then they trust it.)

Such trust paid off.

“The truth of the matter is that Goat Rodeo is a product that could only have been made by the four of us, for both musical and more intangible reasons,” Meyer adds. “To some degree, we were in the (recording) room and just let it all happen.”

Despite an exhausting schedule, Meyer manages to squeeze in a part-time music teaching gig at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. Beyond basic theory and technique—and finding the voice of the bass—what he emphasizes to his students is to follow their own personal paths. And, not surprisingly, he encourages them to champion lots of different ideas and have a well-balanced repertoire, which includes outstanding pieces that generally go underexposed.

Meyer earned a degree in 1984 from the Indiana University School of Music, but initially learned to play the bass from his father, the late Edgar Meyer Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the Oak Ridge, Tennessee public school system. So perhaps educating is in Edgar Jr.’s blood?

“I’m certainly not a full-time teacher,” says Meyer, chuckling, “but it does make me feel like I’m part of the greater musical family or community. I enjoy being involved with these younger people and it allows me to be engaged with their development both as human beings and musicians. It’s very gratifying.”

As for any future collaborations—particularly with those who would seem an unlikely fit—Meyer welcomes the chance. In fact, he’s already begun composing a double-concerto that he and violinist Joshua Bell will debut with a live performance in July. But working solo has its appeal, too. Meyer released a self-titled recording in 2006 that was truly a solo work: he was the only musician, playing piano, da gamba (a violin-like precursor to the double bass), dobro, banjo, guitar and acoustic bass, of course.

Interestingly, he sees similarities in working alone and with others, as each affords the chance for further artistic evolution. And isn’t that what Edgar Meyer is all about?

“The big thing for me is to find people who I can learn from,” he says, “who have access to things and ideas that I might not necessarily have. Working with others offers more of a direct line to (achieving) that end. But that said, even when working alone, I still hope to learn and discover new things ... things I’m curious about ... but just (challenge me) in a different setting. There’s still plenty that I don’t know how to do, and that fascinates me.”

Edgar Meyer performs as part of the Laguna Beach Music Festival with several appearances, including a showcase solo recital titled “The Genius of Edgar Meyer,” Thursday, Feb. 9, 8 p.m. at the Laguna Playhouse, 606 Laguna Canyon Rd. 949-497-2787. The festival begins today and runs through Sunday, Feb. 12. Click here for more information and specifics.