Two masters of modern acoustic music - Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall - will merge their talents at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College for a special evening Sunday, Mar. 8, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
"Classgrass" (classical bluegrass or bluegrass with class) is the apt description for the duo Edgar Meyer (bass) and Mike Marshall (mandolin, guitar, fiddle).
A master instrumentalist and chameleon of styles, Edgar Meyer has established himself as a vibrant performer and innovative composer in a variety of arenas. In February, at the 57th Grammy Awards, Meyer and Chris Thile took home a trophy for Bass & Mandolin, in the Best Contemporary Instrumental Album category. The win marks Meyer's fifth Grammy award.
Born in Oklahoma City, the son of a bass player, Meyer started imitating his father by the age of 3 holding a broom pretending it was a bass. At age 5, he began lessons on a real instrument, a 1933 bass made in Czechoslovakia and in use, hanging from someone's ceiling, as a flower planter.
He attended Indiana University, and from the beginning forged a crossover career, playing with classical musicians as well as popular and country acts. What steered him toward country music was his encounter, in his early 20s, with the virtuosic and complex progressive bluegrass music of the 1980s by Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, and Béla Fleck.
Meyer began to compose around 1990, primarily to write down things that had emerged from "noodling around" and improvising, wanting to "codify" them into pieces. Meyer continues to combine technique and musicianship with a gift for composition, which has won him a vast and varied audience. In recognition of his unique place in the world of music, the MacArthur Foundation named him one of the 2002 recipients of its prestigious "genius" grants.
Mike Marshall, with playing said to be as imaginative and adventurous as it is technically thrilling, cut his teeth on traditional American music, though his interest in many musical styles led him to the San Francisco Bay area at age 19 to join the original David Grisman Quintet in 1978. This band toured and recorded with the legendary jazz violinist Stephan Grappelli, Mark O'Connor and guitarist Tony Rice and helped set a new standard for American string band music. Since then, Marshall has continued pushing the boundaries of acoustic music on mandolin, guitar and violin.
During the 1980s, Marshall recorded for the Windham Hill label with his group The Montreux Band and also formed the classical ensemble, The Modern Mandolin Quartet. In 1995, he began his love affair with the music of Brazil, and embarked on an in-depth study of the roots of Brazilian popular music, Choro. This obsession has led to recordings and concerts with some of Brazil's finest musicians. His group Choro Famoso has helped spearhead a wave in the U.S. for this infectious style.
Marshall, in addition to touring and recording, is currently presiding over the "School of Mandolin" through the Artistworks Company, instructing hundreds of players from around the world using the new Video Exchange Learning system.
View Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall performing "Webbed Feet" at Fresh Grass 2013 at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=33xR-OLP18c&feature= youtube.
Tickets for Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshal are $25, $33 and $39 and are available online at www.durangoconcerts.com, or call 247-7657, or inside the Durango Welcome Center in downtown Durango. Ticket Office hours are Monday - Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m., and Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
