Press
The Tree on Saffron Path
PLASTIC MAGAZINE (UK)
BY PAUL VINE
Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer Cameron Mizell has been a prominent figure in the vibrant music scene of New York City for over a decade. With a chameleonic musicianship and a reputation for professionalism and charming nature, Mizell has established himself as an in-demand creative and session guitarist. As a band leader and solo artist, he’s released eleven albums in the past twenty years, showcasing his versatility across various genres, including jazz, funk, Americana and avant-garde music. Mizell has also collaborated with numerous artists and produced many recordings, further developing his influence in the music industry.
With his latest release, The Tree On Saffron Path, Mizell presents a captivating collection of instrumental Americana music. Drawing inspiration from iconic artists such as Bill Frisell, Philip Glass and Daniel Lanois, Mizell merges his love for sophisticated folk melodies, rich jazz harmony and ambient experimental improvisation. The album features Mizell’s intimate acoustic and electric guitar playing, complemented by the elegant accompaniment of a string trio composed of violinist Concetta Abbate, five-string violinist Zosha Warpeha and cellist Julie Kim.
“The Rhythm of Language” sets the tone for the album, gently unfolding with intricate acoustic guitar work and stunning strings. The composition gracefully ebbs and flows, shifting between blissful and soothing moments and livelier energies. A standout track, “Unfolding,” showcases bright instrumental tones as the guitar and strings interweave in a balletic dance. The album concludes with “And Nothing Was Lost In Exchange,” a haunting piece that features the deep resonance of the cello anchoring the sparse arrangement. The soft guitar and strings float above, creating a thought-provoking and immersive conclusion to an exceptional instrumental album that captures both the intimacy of the performances and the grandeur of the compositions.
Mizell views this new album as a natural evolution from his previous solo release, The Order of Things. Inspired by the uncertainty and anxiety of the lockdowns, Mizell composed ambient loops on his electric guitar and improvised melodies and solos on the acoustic guitar. In contrast, for this album, he started with melodies and aimed to create ambient backgrounds to accompany the pieces. The album draws from a well of compositions Mizell has written over the years, with some tracks revisiting earlier works, like “Unfolding.” Mizell’s thoughtful approach to composition and the inclusion of refined improvisations contribute to the rich tapestry of the album.
Mizell’s album marks both a new direction and an additional layer to his eclectic body of work. The Tree On Saffron Path reveals the depths of his artistic vision as a guitarist and composer, cementing his reputation as a versatile and innovative musician. With his cinematic approach to Americana chamber music, Mizell invites listeners on a mesmerising journey, capturing emotions and narratives through the expressive language of his guitar and the enchanting harmonies of the string trio.
Commenting on the release, he shares, “To me, this music is about transitions—between ways of thinking, past and future, life and death. I always want to move forward and try new things, but I also hang onto ideas and processes I enjoy. This album is a collection of music that explores the old and the new, a balance in constant refinement throughout my musical journey.”
ADDITIONAL QUOTES AND REVIEWS
“Enticing us with an intricate, acoustic guitar performance demonstrating nothing short of instrumental mastery and a charismatic connection… there is no doubt the composer is creating a universe of his own.”
- KIMU
“This album is a collection of memories, strung through emotion.”
- Nishant Varma, Sinusoidal Music
Local Folklore
JAZZ JOURNAL
BY FRED GRAND
Describing guitarist and producer Cameron Mizell (b. 1980) as a thoughtful player hardly begins to do his work justice. Fluent in a variety of genres, from jazz to rock, bluegrass and funk, he always seems to resist any temptation to overplay.
When I reviewed his 2016 set Negative Spaces I detected a special affinity for the broad spectrum of Americana. Echoes of Frisell, Scofield and Metheny brushed against a fresh and uncluttered approach to composition, each piece deliberately weighted and stripped of all superfluity.
Local Folklore is Mizell’s second duo with acclaimed folk and roots guitarist Charlie Rauh, and it further teases out that golden thread of Americana. While the sonic palette is very different to the edgy urban jazz of Negative Spaces, this music shares the same clarity of purpose. Save for Mizell’s sparing use of atmospheric reverb and delay it is entirely acoustic, the pervading air that of a relaxed, intimate parlour recital.
As the album opens with Mizell’s bright title track the listener is instantly placed within an imaginary landscape full of tall skies and expanses of swaying wheat. Mizell’s widescreen soundscapes are generally quite different in character to Rauh’s sepia-toned vignettes, a contrast that becomes clear as early as the second track, Petey & Kyle. One of four pieces inspired by the Virginian scenes and characters from an as yet unfinished novel by his sister Christina Rauh Fishburne, the pieces deal with heavier themes of trauma and loss, and offer a welcome sense of chiaroscuro.
Elsewhere the languid downhome charms of Old Sardis Road are as warm as they’re sincere. Acoustic and electric guitars chime in perfect unison on Mizell’s Metheny-esque ballad On Sundays I Walk Alone, and it’s by some distance the most hummable piece of the set. A Forgiving Sort Of Place is the shortest and most wistful of Rauh’s four vignettes, while Arolen, inspired by his childhood summers in rural Alabama, carries an inescapable sense of yearning for times past.
A charming set which is as likely to appeal to scholars of Americana as to the jazz cognoscenti, Local Folklore draws considerable strength from the artists’ close rapport and unshakeable commitment to understated virtuosity.
MONARCH MAGAZINE
A little bit jazz, a little bit Americana, and a whole lot of heart—that’s the recipe for this altogether engaging new album by two superb guitarists. Like so many other musicians during the pandemic, Mizell and Rauh recorded the album’s ten tracks remotely, which makes the music’s intricate intimacy all the more remarkable. The songs, inspired by the musicians’ close relationships with various people, emanate subtlety, depth, and warmth. Some, like “Jed’s Theme” and “Rita’s Theme,” are affecting musical portraits of people, while others, like “Old Sardis Road” and “Arolen,” pay homage to memory and place. All are ably and lovingly rendered by Mizell and Rauh, whose seamless artistic rapport is a joy to hear. While their individual instrumental voices remain distinct and strong, they also convey an unwavering unity of sound and purpose. Local Folklore is a rare album, one that tells stories of people and places with beautiful music that, like soulful echoes of memory, ring in the mind long after the last note is played.
VINYL DISTRICT
BY JOSEPH NEFF
A guitar duo record of substantial beauty and verve, Local Folklore has affinities to Americana, though thankfully the passages of prettiness in their combined thrust avoid faltering into sterility or preciousness (both are, too my ear, recurring characteristics in far too much contempo Americana). It works to the advantage of Mizell and Rauh (both based in New York) that they are cross-genre guys, Mizell having played experimental improv, bluegrass, salsa, and solo jazz guitar as Rauh has worked extensively as a sideman in numerous stylistic situations (they’ve both released solo recordings of which I’ve not heard). Both are dexterous of finger, but while there are a few spots where the sheer proficiency made me say “damn,” this CD is far more about feeling than flash. Local Folklore is also not an easy album in terms of comparisons, though the mention of Ralph Towner continues to resonate with me, largely due to an inclination that’s tangibly (but subtly) folk-jazz. Relaxing but never insubstantial.
EXPOSÉ ONLINE
BY PETER THELEN
Mizell and Rauh are East Coast based guitarists with an instinctive predilection for warmth and melody in a world where folk meets classical with an ever so slight touch of blues, and in the case of the ten songs presented on Local Folklore, it’s an entirely instrumental endeavor without lyrics or vocals. It serves as a follow-up to Rauh and Mizell’s previous 2019 album together What We Have in Common, although each of them individually have many recordings to their credit. Throughout Mizell and Rauh play acoustic steel string guitars, with Mizell occasionally playing electric (though one would almost need to look at the credits to know that), and likewise the two share production credits, mixing by Mizell and mastering by Rauh, the writing credits split equally between the two. One might be tempted into easy comparisons when describing these pieces, and a good start might be in the early work of Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Ralph Towner, and similarly inclined players, but since they are a duo, the possibilities are more extensive, and the folky-bluesy element might even recall John Fahey at times. The set opens with Mizell’s lively and brisk title track, a feast of dueling guitars underscoring the melodic. “Petey & Kyle” is next up, Rauh’s gentle and visionary guitar poem that mixes warmth and beauty. The early pieces are essentially vignettes with a number of repeats and variations, but later cuts like Rauh’s “A Single Cloth” and Mizell’s “On Sundays I Walk Alone” are more extended epics that cover a bit more territory. Other standouts include the beautiful “Greenwood Waltz” and the interlude “A Forgiving Sort of Place,” the latter being the shortest piece in the set, but unique in many ways. Local Folklore is one of those albums that invites the listener back for many repeat plays.
JAZZ WEEKLY
BY GEORGE HARRIS
Cameron Mizell plays acoustic and electric guitar while Charlie Rauh sticks to acoustic on this gentle and pastoral collection of 10 originals. Mizell uses the electronics for effects, surrounding Rauh’s droplets on “A Forgiving Sense of Place”, the mystical “On Sundays I Walk Alone” and on the dreamy “Arolen”. When the two are acoustic, you get some folksy moods of Appalachia on “Old Sardis Road” and fingerpicking strolls during “Jed’s Theme” and “A Single Cloth”. Gentle on my mind.
STEP TEMPEST
BY RICHARD B. KAMINS
There is something soothing about two steel-string guitarists playing their way through a set of songs that makes you long for sitting around a fire soaking in the sounds. Cameron Mizell and Charlie Rauh have played together for a number of years but never like they have over the eight-plus months it took the duo to record its second album, Local Folklore (Destiny Records). Both players contributed five songs to the program and both recorded in their own studios. Despite the "remote" recording, this music sounds bright, collaborative, highly melodic and harmonic with a wistful quality permeating the songs. Mizell and Rauh are busy leaders on their own yet when they come together, their musical conversations feel like a respite from the road, a quiet evening lost in melody and stories.
That's what Local Folklore is, a melody-laden journey into the heart. Mizell's title song leads off the program on an uptempo note, the strumming guitars setting the pace for the well-crafted melody and the fine, articulate, solos that follow. Rauh's "Petey & Kyle" follows with its Beatles-like melody just begging for words. Yet, you can tell this is a story of two friends walking through life together Still, Mizell's pieces also have stories connected to them whether. When you just sit and listen, you probably know people who the guitarists describe with their instruments and melodies.
Mizell switches to electric on several tracks mostly for the sustain and effects that add atmosphere and an orchestral feel to pieces such as Rauh's "A Forgiving Sort of Place" and lovely "Arolen". The sounds are not intrusive; instead they add a sense of shimmering light off a mountain lake to the songs. On he album closing "On Sundays I Walk Alone", the overdubbed electric plays both rhythm and the theme while Rauh's acoustic plays counterpoint.
Local Folklore is music for early in the morning and late in the evening. The melodies are soothing, the musicianship impressive, a cooperative journey into the human heart and soul. Cameron Mizell and Charlie Rauh may have had to curtail their "live" shows in the pandemic but, judging by the quality of their new album, both musicians made good use of their time.
What We Have In Common
NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
BY TYRAN GRILLO
What We Have In Common pairs Charlie Ruah’s acoustic guitar with the electric of Cameron Mizell. The atmosphere is bright, and the opener, “A Thousand Faces” renders the kind of nostalgia one would only expect to find in a shoebox of aging photographs. Whereas “Dogwood,” “A Song about A Tree,” and “You Are Missing From Me” shine with distinctive Americana, each a hypnotic regression through childhood, the rocking-horse arpeggios and unified harmonies of “Kuksa” reveal fresher sheen. Rauh’s “Tomorrow Will Worry About Itself” and Mizell’s “I Didn’t Find It To Be That, Exactly” are highlights for their nocturnal moods, as are two songs with vocalist Ess See, who adds her own lyrics to “All Along The Way” and “A Thousand Faces.” A tender examination of faith in something greater than blood: the very kinship of a lived experience.
THE MUSEUM OF AMERICANA
The guitar playing of Charlie Rauh and Cameron Mizell is both sensitive and virtuosic. They weave together haunting phrases with precision and grace, allowing just the right amount of dissonance to occasionally clip the end of a melodic run. The result is a dynamic listening experience that divulges more with each spin. Mizell’s clean and plaintive electric guitar accompaniment puts me in mind of the late great Joe Pass, while Rauh’s prolific compositions on the acoustic seem bottomless (by my count he’s written and performed on at least three records in the past year). Standout numbers include “All Along the Way,” “Dogwood,” and “A Thousand Faces.” What We Have In Common is a must-listen for lovers of jazz and folk, and painting. Yes, along with the digital album, you can buy a book of Mizell’s original paintings based upon the album tracks. Rauh and Mizell’s is an endearing musical friendship, and I’m hoping for more collaborations from these two artists in the future.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
BY JIM OLIN
Charlie Rauh and Cameron Mizell combine the immediacy of folk music with the unique twists of jazz. Their guitar playing is nuanced, making the most out of every detail of their performances. Rauh and Mizell both have a knack for focusing on the small things, making each moment special. However, they can also work on the bigger picture. As a result, What We Have In Common is an album which feels understated and direct.
It is not an easy task to make an album feel enjoyable and smooth from start to finish. However, what's really special about it is that each track holds a different quirk. This record is fueled by different influences and, as a result, the listening experience is kaleidoscopic and one-of-a-kind. The melodic layers combine with the rhythmic elements in the compositions, making for a unique, passionate vibe and timeless grooves. It's easy to fall in love with the simplicity of some of the tracks. Sometimes less is indeed more. One of the best things about Rauh and Mizell's guitar playing is the fact that the musicians actually have so much talent, yet they know how to play in a constrained way if the song calls for it. Sometimes, there is room for a mind-boggling phrase, but often there is no need to dazzle the audience with technique. It's really all about creating the right feel.
The beautiful quality of the recording complements the performances. As collaborators, Rauh and Mizell are incredibly tight and diverse, and their organic feel comes through because the recording process has embraced the natural dynamics of the musicians, rather than trying to overly polish them. This is a musical adventure that's exciting, but also sophisticated and classy.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES AND REVIEWS
"Two of the finest guitarists in the land collaborating on some of the most finely honed original compositions you will hear this year (or any other year, for that matter)."
- Dick Metcalf, Contemporary Fusion Reviews
Memory Imagination
JAZZ TRAIL
BY FILIPE FRITAS
After the enjoyable Negative Spaces (Destiny Records, 2016), recorded with his trio mates Brad Whiteley on keyboards and Kenneth Salters on drums, American guitarist Cameron Mizell deliberately plunges into experimental waters to explore a giddily new universe, Memory/Imagination, a solo improvisational effort that reflects on the fight for social justice in America.
Employing a geometric disposition of sonic layers to form contemplative neo-folk sceneries, the title track opens the record with dreamy tones, overlapped phrasing, and scrupulous electronics. A fine balance was achieved between the acoustic and the electric perceptions.
With the climate change in mind, the guitarist delivers “Melting” as an opaque, static exercise seated in an infinite drone whose relentless frequency serves as a pointer for extemporaneous adventures. This weird oscillation between the spacious and the spectral is felt even harder on “We’ll Find Our Way Out of This Mess”, which starts like an innocuous meditation but grows into an intimidating, feverish dream as the time passes. Somehow, the final section reminded me of the dark textures so characteristic in some of the works by the bassist Bill Laswell.
Sounding like a topsy-turvy version of “Happy Birthday”, “Toast” could play a valuable role in an eerie indie film due to its nebulous contortions. Also very cinematic and equally depicted with shades of noir, “A Turning Point”, creates a scenario dominated by delaying propagation waves, percussive tic-tacs, and jazz-blues axioms. Despite explorative, it is probably the most orthodox piece in this recording.
Mizell’s pinpoint control of the guitar is patented on “Vulnerabilities”, a sort of requiem that boasts a beautiful acoustic sonority in its intersection of effulgent fingerpicking and open chords. I can almost hear a touch of gypsy lament among the melodious, yearning folk chops. It differs from the static composure of “The View From Above”, where the guitarist counterpoints shrill-note pointillism with the shrewd work done at lower registers, letting the hope hovering in the skies.
Skillfully pairing controlled abstraction with Americana roots, Cameron Mizell probes new conceptions for his musical creativity, stepping on offbeat yet appetizing territories.
NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY
BY ALAN YOUNG
This blog once called Cameron Mizell the best pastoral jazz guitarist not named Bill Frisell. But aside from last names that rhyme, the two musicians’ talents extend far beyond that demimonde. Quietly and efficiently, Mizell has put together a remarkably tuneful, eclectic, understatedly cinematic body of work. In a world overpopulated by guys who play a million notes where one would do, Mizell’s economical, purposeful style stands out even more.
Mizell’s arguably best, most Lynchian and most relevant album so far might be Memory/Imagination (streaming at Bandcamp), a brooding, multitracked deep-sky solo record he put out about a year after the fateful 2016 Presidential election. It opens with the distantly uneasy, lingering title cut, a tone poem awash in reverb and backward masking effects: imagine Big Lazy‘s Steve Ulrich making a 1970s style ECM record.
As puckishly picturesque and Pink Floydian as the second cut, '“Melting” is, it’s also a surreal acoustic-electric portrait of global warming. “A Toast” is meant to evoke a boardroom full of corporate robber barons congratulating themselves: is the loopiness a snide poke at their groupthink, maybe? Interestingly, the song has a visceral, Indian-tinged sense of longing: maybe even those who destroy the world will also miss it when it’s gone.
“The Wind Will Never Blow Us Out,” a more minimalist take on pensive Jim Hall-style postbop, offers a somewhat more resilient perspective. A haunting, spikily fingerpicked waltz, “Vulnerabilities” was inspired by a chance meeting with a homeless vet searching in vain for a power outlet to juice his electric wheelchair. Mizell’s inspiration for the hypnotically echoing “The View From Above” came from a NASA photo of the earth from space, which had been deleted by the time Mizell went back to try to find it again. “Maybe it made America look too small for the new administration,” he relates.
“We’ll Find Our Way Out of This Mess” begins as a wry study in how to construct a pretty, folksy melody out of backward masking but then takes on epic, ominous proportions. Mizell, a natire Missourian, reflects on the murder of Michael Brown and the Ferguson protests in “A Turning Point,” an echoey, edgy, bluesy number akin to what David Gilmour could have done if he’d played on Quincy Jones’ In the Heat of the Night soundtrack. The album comes full circle with “Decisions,” a brighter, more optimistic series of variations on the opening theme. It’s a great late-night listen.
BIRD IS THE WORM
BY DAVE SUMNER
Those gorgeous interludes on a Bill Frisell recording, where it’s just his moody guitar and some loops & effects? The new release from Cameron Mizell is pretty much an homage to those moments. The guitarist keeps it simple. He takes the seed of a melodic image and runs through an electronic time lapse on its growth. A variety of effects muddy the waters and shift the focus and opens up facets, but for the most part, Mizell is careful to keep that original vision intact. It’s the reason these pieces keep a sense of cohesion rather than simple fade into a formless cinematic ambiance. Plus, he occasionally throws in a tune like “Vulnerabilities,” whose folk music styling goes a long way to providing a sense of shape and direction to the recording. This is an album that exists in the moment.
NO DEPRESSION
BY STACEY ZERING
Cameron Mizell is a guitarist and composer with a passion for jazz, avant-garde, and experimental textures. Mizell's new album, Memory/Imagination, features nine tracks which blur the lines between experimental ambient music and jazz, not unlike the work of forward-thinking artists such as Marc Ribot or John Zorn, to mention but a few.
The minimalistic album artwork, which has a suggestive greyscale feel to it, really speaks volumes to what you can expect from this music. The compositions are spontaneous and essentialist, often based on textural drones, and on the subtle gaps between dissonance and melody.
The tasteful use of effect is particularly unique, utilizing loops and textures to create conversations with the lead guitar lines. The album is mainly based on the fragile and crystal clear tones of Mizell’s electric guitars, making for a distinctive and edgy feel. Memory/Imagination stands out as an eclectic collection of songs, reflecting on Cameron's penchant for melody, as well as exploring his most forward-thinking aspirations.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES & REVIEWS
"Stunning... evokes a sense of wonder and awe." - Jim Olin, All About Jazz
"Decidedly different than any other solo guitar album you’ve heard before. If you love well-sculpted solo guitar, this is a “must-have” for your collection." - Dick Metcalf, Improvijazzation Nation
"[An] atmospheric mediation on the power of music... Memory/Imagination takes the solo guitar music of Cameron Mizell into deep and mysterious waters." - Robert Steven Silverstein, mwe3.com
Negative Spaces
DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE
EDITORS' PICK OCTOBER 2016
BY BRIAN ZIMMERMAN
Cameron Mizell is a New York guitarist who has worn many hats in the jazz industry—as a recording artist, as a label insider for Verve Records, as a pit guitarist for Broadway musicals and as an accompanist for various Latin ensembles around the city. He made his recording debut in 2004 as the captain of an eight-piece ensemble, and in 2015 he released his first solo album, a splendid collection of originals titled The Edge Of Visibility. That album—recorded on Destiny Records, the label he manages—worked well to cut a striking figure for Mizell, effectively separating the guitarist from the pack.
With Negative Spaces, his fifth album as a leader, Mizell assumes the role of the altruistic collaborator, rejoining his working trio for a program of painterly originals that uses sparseness and absence in artful, melodic ways.
Digging in beside Mizell for this effort are drummer Kenneth Salters and keyboardist Brad Whiteley, with whom the guitarist recorded 2010’s Tributary. Together these musicians concoct a sturdy soundscape out of disparate styles. Rooted in an aesthetic of twangy Americana lines, swirling contemporary keyboards and blustery hard-bop grooves, the guitarist and his colleagues slide gracefully between emotional extremes.
There’s edge and attitude to tracks like “Get It While You Can,” a slice of organ-heavy funk, and “Yesterday’s Trouble,” a gravelly country thumper. But interspersed throughout these tunes are “Clearing Skies,” with its beseeching keyboard ostinato, and the two-part title track, a slowly blossoming statement of grace and splendor. The album’s two arbor-themed compositions—“Big Trees” and “A Song About A Tree”—make another case for Mizell’s stylistic versatility. The former is grand and anthemic, a fireworks display accented by powerful cymbal splashes from Salters. The latter carries a sense of solitude and reflection, the way a lonesome traveler carries a picture of home. “Whiskey For Flowers”—written in honor of the annual exchange of gifts between Mizell and his wife—is a merger of the album’s collective influences: It’s got a touch of soft-edged rock, a splash of balmy calypso and a healthy dose of Frisell-esque folk. And, like much of this album, the song is a testament to the notion of saying a lot by speaking a little.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
BY JEROME WILSON
Cameron Mizell is not a well-known guitarist but he is a talented one. Working with just keyboards and drums on this CD he goes on an expansive excursion through the realms of jazz, progressive rock, funk and country.
Just the first four tracks, which actually run together without a break, he goes through New Age meditation, slow-winding progressive rock, distorted psychedelia and finally twangy roadhouse country with Brad Whiteley switching expertly between electric piano and organ as needed and Kenneth Salters holding the rhythm together.
In a harder-edged vein "Take The Humble" and "Barter" are bubbly pieces of funk and "Get It While You Can" is energetic blues-rock in the Allman Brothers Band tradition that leans heavily on the organ. Meanwhile "Clearing Skies" is a stately blend of yearning guitar and piano reminiscent of Pat Metheny's prettier compositions, "A Song About A Tree" is a bucolic country melody and "Unfolding" adds a reggae backbeat to its pastoral twang.
Mizell has a clean, precise tone and a versatility that brings to mind any number of other eclectic guitar slingers like Danny Gatton, Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Link Wray and Joel Harrison. He can evoke a pastoral sunrise as well as a sweaty roadhouse and this trio format gives him a basic but flexible platform for strutting his stuff. He really deserves a lot of attention.
THE NEW YORK CITY JAZZ RECORD
BY DONALD ELFMAN
This new recording by guitarist Cameron Mizell is composed of a great many elements but the sum total is a set focused on singable grooves and melodies. As with his last recording, 2015’s The Edge of Visibility, there is room for jazz improvisation, suggestions of rock, a kind of trance music and experimental sounds.
After the ringing atmospherics of guitar— augmented by gentle percussion from Kenneth Salters—on the opening title track, there’s a folk-rock anthem of sorts, “Big Trees”, the trio, completed by keyboard player Brad Whitely, providing power but also elemental beauty. Then, seemingly from an accessible left field, comes a mean guitar lick playfully morphing into the funky groove of “Yesterday’s Trouble”, which allows these strong players to wail as one during a driving solo from the leader.
“Take the Humble” is a dancing, jazzy gas. Led by searingly soulful guitar, the trio takes the tune into a straight 4/4 bridge before culminating with a definitive solo statement from Mizell and then a forceful but tuneful Hammond B-3 lead from Whiteley. These tunes are eminently hummable, reflecting the sensibility of artists who have created music that reaches out to an audience but never insults its intelligence. “Whiskey for Flowers” feels like a country tune with a mysterious underpinning. (Kudos, here and throughout, to Whiteley and Salters’ broad spectrum.) “Clearing Skies” is brooding and intense yet with a soaring open quality suggestive of its title. “Get it Where You Can” out-and-out smokes while the lilting “Unfolding” pulses with quiet life. Near the end is another take of the title piece, this time lush, spacious and hymn-like.
There’s so much to appreciate on Negative Spaces thanks to the cohesion of group, its individual voices and Mizell’s song-oriented vision.
JAZZ TRAIL
BY FILIPE FREITAS
Boasting an inviting sound and evincing a compelling dexterity in his original compositions, Brooklyn-based guitarist Cameron Mizell shapes Negative Spaces with rigor and variety.
Together with his competent bass-less trio, Mizell effortlessly mixes rock, blues, funk, country, Americana, and jazz with ingenuity, building up an inspired album that speaks with a proper voice without shutting up its main influences.
Ethereal and illuminated, the introspective musical piece that lends the title to the album runs smoothly and engagingly.
“Big Trees” is a short but captivating avant-folk piece layered with electric guitar on top of acoustic strumming. The song is energetic enough but transmits a peaceful aura at the same time, preparing the ground for the combination of blues and folk that are on the base of “Yesterday’s Trouble”, where Mizell’s haunting sound is clearly influenced by Marc Ribot. “Whiskey for Flowers”, unhurriedly immutable in pace, comes up in the sequence of its predecessor, immediately leading the way to “Take the Humble”, a smooth jazz-funk that coolly swings in its B section. Here we feel the good vibes of Mizell’s bluesy guitar, reminiscent of John Scofield, and the gratifying keyboard solo of Whiteley, who brought me into mind Lou Donaldson’s glorious albums from the 60’s.
The distinguished “Clearing Skies” is painted with grey hues but ultimately clears the clouds with the hope and affection set free from Mizell and Whiteley’s improvisations.
Salters’ self-assured drumming marks the well-defined pace of “Unfolding” whose beautiful melody remains in our heads, making us wanting to hear it over and over again.
Ribot’s freewheeling rock style is spotted again in the first segment of the record’s last song, “Echoing Echoing”, which ends up in an agitating harmonic turnaround.
Cameron Mizell doesn’t need words to show he’s a great storyteller. Besides that, the two qualified musicians that follow him have that clarity that facilitates his way of expression, adding also their own personal touch.
ADDITIONAL QUOTES & REVIEWS
"The main difference between Mizell and the faceless rabble of other similarly accomplished jazz-rock-blues guitarists is that he's a sharp-minded and witty composer and arranger with a knack for writing gritty, funky tunes with hooky melodies." - Dave Wayne, All About Jazz
"He has a jazz-rock sophistication and a melodic-harmonic inventive sense that stands out. Mizell is a talent." - Grego Applegate Edwards, Gapplegate Guitar & Bass Blog
"In Negative Spaces, Cameron Mizell has made a mighty fine guitar album of songs that go an assortment of places but never feel exhausted from the travel." - Anthony Dean-Harris, Nextbop
The Edge of Visibility
NO DEPRESSION
BY STACEY ZERING
Guitarist Cameron Mizell journeys into the far reaches of the subconscious, weaving a collection of instrumentals that don't allow for easy interpretation but nevertheless conjure spellbinding imagery. Each track on The Edge of Visibility sounds like fragments of memories, cinematic visuals that unreel in the imagination. Combining improvisational jazz with traces of progressive rock and avant-garde experimentalism, Mizell explores the sounds of the dreaming and waking world. The overall effect is both hypnotic and disorienting, and adventurous listeners will feel their minds expanding.
On "A Second Trapeze," Mizell's guitar is mellow and soothing, quite unlike the rough edges that appear elsewhere on the record. It's accessible and pleasantly tuneful, probably the best entryway into Mizell's unique artistry. His playing here is fluid and engaging, and it's well-suited for moody winter evenings.
With the title track, Mizell's sharp ear for chilly atmospherics is keenly felt. Opening with odd effects that would fit perfectly on a Pink Floyd recording, Mizell captures some deeply melancholic tones that illustrate the film noir darkness of a rainy night. "Rooster Tail" is stranger still, echoing an interstellar vibe that gradually returns to Earth with clanging riffs. This is a thought-provoking work, one that lingers in the memory long after it has ceased spinning.
ALL ABOUT JAZZ
BY JIM OLIN
How the mind liberally generates artistic transcendence is a phenomenal concept, and creating music is a customary form to express the ethereal otherworldliness of what is beyond the mundane. Guitarist Cameron Mizell's fearless spirit travels to a different cosmos with his album The Edge of Visibility. Mizell undauntedly rambles the peripheries of his imagination.
The album epitomizes a vast and inventive sonic encounter, an unconventional plunge into subliminal escape and mood-altering cognizance. The melodic and stirring "These Sheets" has a meditative current. The upshot is a peripatetic mind engrossed with nostalgia. Tripping down memory lane and roving through bottled-up mishaps are some of the knitted effects. The tuneful guitar on "A Second Trapeze" is a solid, soothing cut that substantiates Mizell's razor-sharp skillfulness. The freezing impression displays a sequence of historical imagery. Ruminating over discernibility and fancy interpretations elicits awakening, especially with the rich and reassuring guitar playing. "Everyone Has Blind Spots" hypnotizes a pensive soul. The introspective sound generates a disconsolate touch yet brushes it with an idyllic appeal, intensifying the emotions with highlighted recollections.
With its astrophysical atmosphere, "Rooster Tail" is a complex, eccentrically good and commendable track. It enigmatically gyrates the mind with its dark, ambiguous turns. There is a tremendous exhibition of menacing guitar flow electrifying both the sensible and the subconscious level. "Rooster Tail" is a challenging composition that is elevating and unsettling in its serenest form.
Film graphics, rubbles of musings, suppressed recalls, and yearned memoirs embody The Edge of Visibility. Improvisational jazz tinted with progressive rock and avant-garde creativity, this album establishes an experimental expedition. Mizell's daring approach lets the mind trek into an effervescent foray of conjectural, physical, and psychedelic ether. Mizell superbly presents high technical proficiency, artistry, and melodic skills in this praiseworthy and tastefully hypnotic collection.