May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins Dies at 95
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Camila Meza is among the 25 artists DownBeat thinks will help shape jazz in the decades to come.
(Photo: Rachel Thalia Fisher)Singer and guitarist Camila Meza was slightly anxious when, as a 19-year-old jazz novice, she took the stage for her debut at Thelonious, a top club in her native Santiago, Chile. But as she worked her way through a set of standards, she grew calmer. By the end of the night, she had found a home.
“I was [thinking], ‘OK, this is it,’” she said in August, her searching eyes framed by the screen in a Zoom transmission from a lush site in Montana, where she had been holed up for five months because of the pandemic.
Meza, 35, seemed at home in Big Sky country—a setting that recalled the hills around Santiago, where she frolicked gamely in a video shot in February 2019 for “Kallfu,” the striking opening track on her breakthrough album, Ámbar (Sony Masterworks).
She reflected on the distance she had traveled, artistically and geographically, since that Thelonious gig. In 2007, she released Skylark, followed by two more collections of others’ tunes, Retrato (2009) and Prisma (2013).
Traces (2016), her first full-scale presentation of her own music, won two Independent Music Awards. But even as she was preparing to release that album, she was thinking about material for Ámbar, which, by involving a contemporary string quartet, transformed her sound.
“It is a record,” she explained, “that is ambitious in a way that, ‘Yes, I’m going to write my own songs and arrangements, but I’m also going to explore new orchestrations and new ways of expressing certain emotions and journeys within the music.’”
On “Kallfu,” she integrates primal vocals and nimble guitar work with a jazz trio and the string quartet, which, by turns, drives the rhythm in minimalist fashion and breaks the rhythm with aleatoric invention.
In Meza’s music, poignant explorations of sadness are offset by an occasional joyful noise. “Kallfu,” she said, was intended to do just that for Ámbar by introducing a “song that was in the brighter spectrum.”
In “Portal,” an extended composition she hopes to record, she expresses both sides of her musical personality. Employing fresh instrumentation—a harp, electronics and additional singers join her voice, guitar and piano-bass-drums trio—this highly textured work evokes both the near-apocalypse and ultimate salvation. Premiered in June 2019 as part of The Jazz Gallery’s commission series, its theme has special resonance these days.
“One of the very clear learnings of this time is to be able to let go of certain things, like attachments to whatever you think life should be,” she said. “We had a beautiful year last year and now, after a few months of not feeling creative—I was pushing myself through these emotional waves of feeling good and feeling bad—I’m starting to feel renewed energies to just speak for the moment.” DB
This story originally was published in the November 2020 issue of DownBeat. Subscribe here.
Onstage, Rollins would move about restlessly, thrusting his tenor sax in the air as he blew.
May 26, 2026 11:08 AM
Sonny Rollins, the iconic saxophonist, composer and improviser whose career stretched from the origins of bebop to 21st…
Cécile McLorin Salvant busts out Jelly Roll Morton’s “The Murder Ballad” at Big Ears, here with pianist Sullivan Fortner.
Apr 7, 2026 1:21 PM
There’s pluralism, then there’s PLURALISM! — and then there’s Big Ears. Thurston Moore, who participated in…
“We thought it’s important that Ronin has a new statement,” said Nik Bärtsch of his band’s latest album, Spin. “The sound is differently produced, so it reflects more of who we are.”
Apr 21, 2026 10:00 AM
Nik Bärtsch cuts an imposing figure on stage. He’s unmistakable with his soul patch, shaven head and black attire.…
Dave King (left) and Reid Anderson offer insights into why The Bad Plus’ chemistry was cool, the accomplishments many and its longevity so fruitful.
May 12, 2026 11:42 AM
The scene still sticks with me. I had heard the oddball name of this new group being dropped around town, and…
Ava Preston, a 12-time DownBeat Student Music Award winner, is currently pursuing her master’s degree in jazz voice at Juilliard.
May 12, 2026 10:00 AM
Ava Preston, from Cleveland, Ohio, was named the winner of the ninth annual Ella Fitzgerald Jazz Vocal Competition on…
