About bcarv
Bill Mize
The Prism Coffeehouse and WTJU 91.1 FM Radio are delighted to return to our stage
BILL MIZE – “Grammy winning fingerstyle guitar virtuoso”
Friday, October, 18, 2019 at 7:00 pm
C’Ville Coffee, Charlottesville
Ticket prices: $13 advance/$16 Door. Click HERE for TICKETS.
Bill’s story:
“It was the mid-1950s when I first saw Elvis on TV. Although I was only three or four years old, I realized I had just witnessed something incredibly powerful, and for me music was what it was going to be all about.”
Grammy-winning guitarist Bill Mize is a son of Tennessee, and a fitting representative of his state’s rich musical heritage. His critically lauded fingerstyle compositions are fluid and intricate, and their delivery masterful. One suspects an influential teacher, and one would be right. “I received most of my musical education from a cheap Zenith radio,” says Mize, who as a child drifted off to sleep to the decidedly non-sleepy lullabyes emanating from Nashville’s WLAC and WSM and Knoxville’s WNOX.
Maybe that’s why critics speak of his ability to “transport” the listener; the music itself has been transported. The links to his Tennessee roots are unmistakable, but so are the elements of the far wider musical realm he inhabits, and the mixture is as intoxicating as Tennessee moonshine. With a twist.
Bill is a past winner of the National Fingerstyle Guitar Competition at The Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. Guitar Player Magazine has labeled this event the “U.S. Open of guitar competitions.”
Bill received a GRAMMY Award for his collaboration with musician and storyteller David Holt on the recording Stellaluna, and has been featured on the popular guitar compilations “Windham Hill Guitar Sampler” by Windham Hill Records and “Masters of the Acoustic Guitar” by Narada Records. In 2009, Bill’s music appeared in the Ken Burns documentary “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.” Mel Bay Productions transcribed Mize’s second CD, “Tender Explorations,” into a songbook, and his original compositions have been transcribed for Fingerstyle Guitar and Acoustic Guitar magazines.
Bill has six critically acclaimed cds including the recent, “The Back of Beyond”
Press:
Guitar International – (Matt Warnock, 2011) “From a technical level, Mize’s playing is absolutely world-class, but it is his diversity and ability to focus on the melody, rather than chops, that really helps his music hit home with listeners.”
Vintage Guitar Magazine (2011) – “Mize proves it takes more than just chops to be great.”
Knoxnews – Best CDs of 2010 (Wayne Bledsoe, 2010) “Bill is a fingerstyle guitarist who creates some of the sweetest creations in instrumental music. His music is all about subtlety and nuance. Listen casually and you’ll be hooked. Listen close and you’ll be wowed.”
Minor 7th Reviews – (James Filkins, 2010) “Sixty seconds in you know this player has full command of the wood and steel in his hands! … you just don’t want it to end and when it does there is a sense of satisfaction and the notion that you have just experienced something sublime…. Bill Mize is a player’s player who has produced another acoustic gem!”
Vintage Guitar Magazine (1998) – “An amazing touch, killer tone and a sense of taste that can’t be beat.”
Acoustic Guitar Magazine (Dale Miller) – “…Mize’s tone is lovely and his technique is state-of-the-art. He combines form and substance to create music so sublime and accessible I was almost sighing out loud.”
Dirty Linen Magazine (Stephen Ide) – “… To call Mize guitar maestro would be understating his ability to transport listeners beyond what most guitarists can only hope to accomplish.”
Fingerstyle Guitar News, Canada – (Dave Walker, 2010) “One of the best guitarists around.”
All Music Guide ~ (Marc Castellani) “Gorgeous and compelling”.
