The Bridge Uniting Audiences
Genre: Jazz
New York, NY
Pianist, composer, and educator Dave Meder is one of the prominent artists of his generation, known for a broad musical palette recognized in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, the American Pianists Awards, and the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commissioning program. His defining aesthetic is a strikingly postmodern sense of stylistic adventure, incorporating what All About Jazz describes as "a vibrant hybrid of the whole American spectrum."
In his 2019 debut, Passage, Meder established himself as a uniquely versatile artist, traversing his way through a gospel standard, an etude inspired by American minimalists Philip Glass and John Adams, a dramatic elegy inspired by Baroque-era operas, as well as pieces featuring generation-defining saxophonists Miguel Zenon and Chris Potter. The Ottawa Citizen counted Passage among its top five jazz debuts, and All Music Guide included the album in its "Favorite Jazz Albums" list, noting the balance of "post-bop harmonies with soulful gospel warmth and contemporary classical sophistication." His second release, Unamuno Songs and Stories, is a response to recent socio political turmoil in the United States using the writings of Spanish Civil War-era philosopher Miguel de Unamuno as a historical analogy. Meder continued his exploration of American civil and religious life with his 2023 follow-up album New American Hymnal.
His compositions have garnered recognition from Chamber Music America, ASCAP, BMI, the International Songwriting Competition, and the First Music Commission of the New York Youth Symphony, among others. Meder has headlined many prominent performance venues and educational residencies around the world, including Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, and Beijing Normal Visual University's International Music Festival. He is a recipient of the Fulbright US Scholar Award for and Performing Awards, which brought him to Egypt as a guest lecturer in jazz improvisation.
During his undergraduate studies at Florida State University - from which Meder graduated summa cum laude with degrees in jazz studies, Spanish and political science - tutelage under Marcus Roberts bolstered his authentic handle on historical jazz piano styles. During these years, Meder was also fortunate to immerse himself in this lineage firsthand by being selected for two of the most crucial incubators in jazz education, the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead program at The Kennedy Center, and the Steans Music Institute at the Ravinia Festival (led at the time by the late David Baker). Upon his graduation in 2013, Meder won the esteemed Great American Jazz Piano Competition.
Meder later earned an Artist Diploma from Juilliard, where he taught and toured as part of the premier ensemble of the school while studying with Kenny Barron, Fred Hersch, Dave Douglas, Philip Lasser and others. He now holds a professorship at the University of North Texas, one of the most renowned jazz studies programs in the world. Concurrent to his formal education, Meder worked for several years as the music director of Fordham Lutheran Church in the Bronx, furthering another creative through-line in his life. Indeed, his music conveys a tremendous depth, yet remains eminently soulful, an aspiration not often achieved in modern jazz.
Dave Meder is a Yamaha Artist.