Portal Camila Meza

• 1 Utopia 04:25
• 2 The Nurturer 04:03
• 3 Harvesting Under The Moon 05:07
• 4 Transmutación 05:12
• 5 Portal 05:29
• 6 Nieno La (La Eterna) 01:39
• 7 Uncovered Ground 03:59
• 8 Overgrowth 04:02
• 9 Remecer 03:36
• 10 Mandorla 02:47
• 11 Persistir 04:33
• Total Runtime 44:52

Info for Portal

"Portal" is the sixth album and GroundUP debut by multifaceted vocalist-guitarist-composer Camila Meza. Produced by Meza and pianist Shai Maestro, Portal features drummer Ofri Nehemya and harpist Margaret Davis, with special guests including vocalists Gretchen Parlato and Becca Stevens, drummer Caleb Vangelder, pianist Gadi Lehavi, and spoken word artist Faumelisa Manquepillán.

Camila Meza is a rarity in today’s world – a captivating triptych of an artist known for composing brilliant musical landscapes ablaze with irresistible melodies and improvisations, brought to life by her soulfully pure vocal instrument, and consummate prowess on guitar. Originally from Santiago, Chile, she has garnered rapt attention from her colleagues, the press, and audiences in South America, New York City, and internationally, for her distinctive ability of blending jazz with her broad musical world (including Latin American, Brazilian, folk and pop), and for the emotional depth of her music. This rising star on the global jazz scene has been described by The New York Times as, “a bright young singer and guitarist with an ear for music of both folkloric and pop intention,” and called, “a natural multi-talent, an improvising singer-guitarist who is one of the finest in the world in both creative realms,” by pianist Aaron Goldberg. He added that, “she unites North and South America in a multilingual mega-continent, a Pangaea of swing and harmony.” Being called to join your peers on stage and in the studio remains one of the true tests that any NYC jazz musician will face, and Camila has passed, summa cum laude, staying very busy as an in-demand side musician, working with the likes of Ryan Keberle, Fabian Almazan, Aaron Goldberg, Sachal Vasandani, Dave Douglas, Arooj Aftab and many others.

Six years since the release of her acclaimed album Ámbar (Sony Masterworks), Camila Meza returns with an evermore strong and bold statement – her most personal musical piece to date. Her first project entirely of originals, Portal finds her in her full power as a consummate and original songwriter and composer, unveiling new colors and textures of her palette. Recorded during the pandemic and Camila’s journey through pregnancy and birth, the album took on a deeper and almost existential meaning to her. “Most of the songs were written in 2019 during a creative spree to fulfill a Jazz Gallery Commission. I composed them in a bit of a trance,” the artist reflects. “The only thing I really knew was that it was about a passage, a sort of transmutation. I wanted to portray the human capacity to transform our reality from the evident darkness that surrounds it, into its potential for light, for beauty.”

While writing she describes visions of archetypal figures, including The Mother – as a way to describe the unconditional love and capacity for nurturing that humans have – and The Wise Woman, a figure that represents ancient wisdom, answers from our ancestors in times of deviation where our connection to our essence has been lost. “This album became my deepest plea and conjuring of a world where we can manifest our ideals… where we can re-remember our unity with what we call Nature and live more harmoniously in it, between us and within ourselves,” she shares. “…where we can question the status quo and find different answers that can lead to healthier ways of living, and where polarities can find balance, helping us reconsider what really is important for us. I didn’t know then, but part of what I was writing about was also my own portal into becoming a mother and experiencing that unlimited love myself, and how relevant it would become to try to create that vibrant and beautiful world, as my son’s future was now in it.”

Portal was born from Camila Meza’s joyous and inquisitive journey from a young, accomplished musician in Chile (inspired by Wes Montgomery, George Benson, Pat Metheny, Led Zeppelin, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimi Hendrix, Bjork, Elis Regina, Chet Baker among others), to her ascension among the new generation of adventurous jazz musicians in New York who are fearlessly imposing their disparate influences and experiences with glorious sonic results.

Throughout Portal Camila offers the listener a remarkable gift; her true self and her abundant talents, as expressed through these songs, with no less than luminosity, passion, honesty and love.

Camila Meza, vocals, guitar
Gretchen Parlato, vocals
Becca Stevens, vocals
Shai Maestro, piano
Gadi Lehavi, piano, synthesizer
Margaret Davis, harp
Ofri Nehemya, drums
Caleb Vangelder, drums
Faumelisa Manquepillán, spoken words

Camila Meza
was born in Santiago, Chile in 1985. She got her start playing music around age 15 in her hometown in Chile. She released her first album Skylark in 2007, and moved to New York in 2009 to attend the New School for Jazz. She soon established herself on the New York scene, as a guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Camila’s style fuses many different influences. She has a strong command of South American musical styles, including Samba and Bossa. With her small floating voice on top of her more jazz laden guitar playing, she is a force unto herself. Her second album,Traces, features Kendrick Scott, Matt Penman, and Shai Maestro, and received wide acclaim. In addition to releasing a good load of music, she maintains and directs her own octet, the Nectar Ensemble. Some other Musicians that she has played with are Lucas Pino, Fabian Almazan, and Steve Cardenas.

Equally prized as a vocalist, guitarist and composer, Meza has uplifted audiences worldwide with her assured and beautiful singing, highly advanced guitar (both self-accompaniment and blistering solo work), and vivid, melodic songwriting that reveals complex layers with every listen. She’s been hailed by The New York Times for her “appealing combination of lightness and depth … singing in a bright, clear voice against the agile stir of a first-rate band. Her improvising, on electric or acoustic guitar, is serious business….” In 2019 she released her fifth album, Ambar, on Sony Music Masterworks, producing it herself and proudly unveiling the Nectar Orchestra, a collaboration with bassist and arranger Noam Wiesenberg. Meza moved from Chile to New York at 23, graduating in 2013 from The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where she studied with Peter Bernstein, Vic Juris, Sam Yahel, Steve Cardenas and Gil Goldstein, among others. Bringing a sound full of warmth and clarity to the New York jazz scene ever since, she has distinguished herself as a member of Ryan Keberle’s Catharsis and Fabian Almazan’s Rhizome, and has also worked with Paquito D’Rivera, Aaron Goldberg, Sachal Vasandani and many more. She has appeared at festivals worldwide as well as NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series and WBGO’s The Checkout, garnering praise from The Village Voice, The Wall St. Journal and many other outlets. In 2018, Pat Metheny enlisted her to perform and act as musical director for his NEA Jazz Masters induction ceremony at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. In 2022 she was named “#1 Rising Star Female Vocalist” by Downbeat Magazine.

This album contains no booklet.