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Melissa Aldana

On her first jazz quartet "Visions", award-winning saxophonist Melissa Aldana connects her work to the legacy of Latina artists who have come before her, creating a pathway for her own expression. Inspired by the life and works of Frida Kahlo, Aldana creates a parallel between her experiences as a female saxophone player in a male-dominated community, and Kahlo’s experiences as a female visual artist working to assert herself in a landscape dominated by men. On her first jazz quartet recording, Aldana adds a new dimension to her sound, resulting in a transformative movement of expression and self-identity.

Aldana was born in Santiago, Chile. She began playing the saxophone when she was six, under the influence and tuition of her father Marcos Aldana, also a professional saxophonist. Aldana began with alto, influenced by artists such as Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley, and Michael Brecker. However, upon first hearing the music of Sonny Rollins, she switched to tenor; the first tenor saxophone she used was a Selmer Mark VI that had belonged to her grandfather.

She started performing in Santiago jazz clubs in her early teens. In 2005, after meeting him while he was on tour in Chile, she was invited by pianist Danilo Pérez to play at the Panama Jazz Festival, as well as a number of auditions at music schools in the USA. As a result of these introductions, she went on to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, where her tutors included Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Frank Tiberi, Greg Osby, Hal Crook, Bill Pierce, and Ralph Peterson

Aldana graduated from Berklee in 2009, relocating to New York City to study under George Coleman. She recorded her first album, Free Fall, released on Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music imprint in 2010. Her live shows in this period included performances at the Blue Note Jazz Club and the Monterey Jazz Festival, and her second album, Second Cycle, was released in 2012. In 2013, aged 24, she was the first female musician and the first South American musician to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, in which her father had been a semi-finalist in 1991. The prize was a $25,000 scholarship, and a recording contract with Concord Jazz. Reporting her win, the Washington Post described Aldana as representing "a new sense of possibility and direction in jazz".

Melissa Aldana: Echoes Of The Inner Prophet

Read "Echoes Of The Inner Prophet" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
March 28, 2024

Grammy-nominated saxophonist Melissa Aldana was all of maybe 21 going on 22 in 2010 when her Inner Circle Records arrival, Free Fall, caught many a discerning ear with its surprisingly earthy and assured lines and tangents. Her first for Blue Note, 2022's 12 Stars, displayed much the same but with a more resolute, restorative, established tone. As exhibited on such artistic statements as 12 Stars and 2019's Visions (Motema Music), Aldana relishes her sojourns and residencies in the ...

Radio & Podcasts

New Releases Plus Holiday Music, Birthday Shoutouts, Grammy Nominees & More

by Mary Foster Conklin
December 11, 2023

This broadcast begins the holidays with music of the season from John Paul McGee and Hendrik Meurkens new releases from Karen Hammack, The Airmen of Note, Russ Lorenson and Margot Sergent, more nods to Grammy nominees plus birthday shoutouts to Judy Carmichael, Rebecca Coupe Franks, Ethel Ennis, Sylvia Syms, Melissa Aldana, June Christy, Maria Schneider and Tina Turner, among others. Thanks for listening and please support the artists you hear by seeing them live and online. Purchase their music so ...

Radio & Podcasts

Live from the Village Vanguard

by David Brown
April 11, 2023

I was at the Village Vanguard in NYC on Tuesday to hear Chilean tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana and her captivating quintet. With that experience in mind, tonight's lineup will showcase live recordings from this world-famous venue from Chucho Valdes to John Coltrane to The Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Orchestra. Then, works from Arturo and Chico O'Farrill and some new releases from Tim Berne and Ingrid Laubrock. Playlist Kidd Jordan, Hamid Drake, William Parker “Resolution" from Palm of ...

Album Review

NYO Jazz: We're Still Here

Read "We're Still Here" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
October 14, 2022

The “NYO" in NYO Jazz is shorthand for National Youth Orchestra, a marvelous concept that should be cloned and shipped to as many cities, towns and villages as possible. NYO, comprising carefully chosen musicians, ages 16 to 19, from across the U.S.A. is based at Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute in New York City, and We're Still Here marks its first full-length recording. The NYO's artistic director is trumpeter, composer and educator Sean Jones who is featured ...

Album Review

Melissa Aldana: 12 Stars

by Chris May
March 24, 2022

Before we get into tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana's album--which is excellent, so hang on in there--a word about press releases and publicity campaigns. Specifically, those from Blue Note. The label's headquarters in Los Angeles is in danger of becoming known for award-winning b.s. in this regard, as demonstrated during the campaign for Aldana's label debut. Here is an example: 12 Stars, we are told, “grapples with concepts of childrearing, familial forgiveness, acceptance, and self-love." Given that there is ...

Radio & Podcasts

Melissa Aldana: Sound, Time, Ideas

by Leo Sidran
March 14, 2022

Melissa Aldana is meeting her moment right now. At 33 years old, she's already a quarter of a century into a musical trip that started in Santiago, Chile. Her father and grandfather were both jazz saxophone players in Chile, and she started early, at six years old, on the alto sax. She and her father would listen to Charlie Parker, and, as she tells it, try to understand the emotional content of the music.When a few years later ...

Album Review

Melissa Aldana: 12 Stars

Read "12 Stars" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi

by Angelo Leonardi
February 28, 2022

Presente da alcuni anni ai vertici dei sondaggi dei critici di Down Beat, la sassofonista cilena Melissa Aldana ha da poco superato i 30 anni e in un decennio s'è imposta con un talento magistrale. Dopo cinque incisioni in proprio (l'ultima Visions le è valsa una nomination ai Grammy per il miglior assolo improvvisato nel brano “Elsewhere") ora debutta con l'etichetta Blue Note accompagnata dalla parole del suo presidente Don Was: «È tra i massimi musicisti e compositori della sua ...

Performance / Tour

World-Renowned Smoke Jazz Club Announces October Line-up Including The Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Trio, Pianist Jacky Terrasson, Trombonist Steve Davis, Saxophonist Melissa Aldana, And More

Source: AMT Public Relations
August 30, 2023

Rated the #1 Jazz Club in New York City (Secret NYC), Smoke Jazz Club welcomes a few of today’s leading Trios to the stage in October. For the first time in 30 years, the Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart Trio returns to SMOKE for a highly-anticipated, long overdue, four-night run (Oct 12-15). Pianist Jacky Terrasson makes a rare New York City appearance with his exciting trio with bassist Kenny Davis and drummer Alvester Garnett (Oct 19-22). The month ends with the master trombonist Steve ...
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