Camila Meza

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Camila Meza in Aoyama 2017

Camila Meza Bernstein (born July 22, 1985 in Santiago de Chile ) is a Chilean jazz musician ( vocals , guitar ) and songwriter .

Live and act

Meza, who is musically influenced by jazz guitarists like George Benson and Pat Metheny as well as by South American music and folk, first studied with Jorge Vidal and Jorge Díaz. Increasingly oriented towards Claudia Acuña , she started working in the jazz scene in her hometown from the mid-2000s; it was there that the first recordings were made in 2005 with Giovanni Cultrera, Espinoza y Cia ( Navidad en Jazz ). She released her debut album Skylark (Stateside) in 2007 .

In 2009 Meza moved to New York to study guitar with Peter Bernstein , Vic Juris and Steve Cardenas at The New School . Since then she has worked in the New York jazz scene with Ryan Keberle ( Into the Zone , 2014), Lucas Pino , Fabian Almazan and leads her own jazz octet, The Nectar Orchestra . The album Traces recorded for Sunnyside Records (2016, with Shai Maestro , Matt Penman , Kendrick Scott , Bashiri Johnson, Jody Redhage, Sachal Vasandani ), on which she sings in Spanish and English, received two Independent Music Awards in the Best Adult Contemporary Album category and Best Latin Song ("Para Volar"). According to the critics, she also appeared outstanding on the albums Find the Common, Shine a Light by Ryan Keberle and Sounds from the Deep Field by Bryan Copeland . She can also be heard as a singer on Carolina Calvache's ballad “La Última Vez”. In 2017 the Camila Meza Quartet made a guest appearance at the Jazzahead Festival . The following year, she brought Gina Schwarz to Porgy & Bess in Vienna as part of her Pannonica project . Meza was nominated as a rising star in the guitar and female vocals category in the Down Beat critics' poll in 2018 .

Nate Chinen described Meza's singing in The New York Times as "an appealing combination of lightness and depth [...] that sings with a bright, clear voice against the agile riot of a first-class band." Discographer Tom Lord lists her between 2005 and in 2015 with participation in eight recording sessions.

Discographic notes

  • Skylark (2007)
  • Retrato (2009)
  • Prism (2013)
  • Traces (2016)
  • Ambar (2019)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bill Milkowski : 12 New Jazz Artists to Watch in 2019. Paste Magazine, January 4, 2019, accessed on January 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Down Beat August 2017
  3. ↑ Gina Schwarz 'Pannonica Project feat. Camila Meza
  4. ↑ CriticsPoll 2018 (Down Beat)
  5. ↑ Tom Lord: The Jazz Discography (online, accessed January 17, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Meza, Camila
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bernstein, Camila Meza (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Chilean jazz musician (vocals, guitar) and songwriter
DATE OF BIRTH July 22, 1985
PLACE OF BIRTH Santiago de Chile