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Dave Meder

Pianist, composer, and educator Dave Meder is one of the prominent artists of his generation, known for a broad musical palette and interdisciplinary approach recognized in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition, the American Pianists Awards, and the Chamber Music America New Jazz Works commissioning program. Beyond the accolades, 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.” His first album Passage was counted among the top five jazz debuts in the Ottawa Citizen and was included in the annual “Favorite Jazz Albums” list from All Music Guide, noted for its skillful balancing of “post-bop harmonies with soulful gospel warmth and contemporary classical sophistication.” His recent release Unamuno Songs and Stories uses the works of Spanish Civil War-era philosopher Miguel de Unamuno to respond to sociopolitical turmoil in the United States. Meder has headlined stages or conducted educational residencies at Jazz at Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, as well as internationally in Beijing, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, and most recently Egypt as a US Fulbright Scholar. Dave is a Yamaha Artist and a professor at University of North Texas.


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Dave Meder: Modern Gothic

Read "Dave Meder: Modern Gothic" reviewed by John Chacona


Hymn tunes are having a bit of a moment with players such as Dave Douglas and James Brandon Lewis calling on these sturdy old melodies for projects that often wander far from their plain, homespun source material. On New American Hymnal (Outside in Music, 2023), pianist Dave Meder goes a step further by making the communal nature of hymn-singing a metaphor for the current state of society in the United States. “Modern Gothic" joyously references the simple triadic harmonies of ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Dave Meder's New American Hymnal Plus Other New Releases

Read "Dave Meder's New American Hymnal Plus Other New Releases" reviewed by Bob Osborne


On this show we featured a selection of new and recent releases from Dave Meder, Michael Blicher with Dan Hemmer & Steve Gadd, Ab Baars plus Ig Henneman with Ingrid Laubrock & Tom Rainey, Leo Genovese with Demian Cabaud and Marcos Cavaleiro, Linda May Han Oh, Susan Alcorn with José Lencastre and Hernâni Faustino, Christian Dillingham, Nina Simone, Noah Gershwin, Nick Maclean Quartet ft. Brownman Ali, and, John Butcher with Pat Thomas and Dominic Lash & Steve Noble.

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Album Review

Dave Meder: Passage

Read "Passage" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


"Philosophically, what I'm after is the lofty goal of being able to play everything," says 28-year-old pianist David Meder of his ambitions and crowd-sourced debut, Passage. Like he says, that's pretty lofty, if not downright cocky. But what is jazz, let alone any artistic endeavor, if not an equal mix of both, and the chops to pull it off? Upon repeated listenings of Passage, Meder is well on his way. A semifinalist in the 2018 Thelonious Monk International ...

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