Melissa Aldana
Melissa Aldana is an adept jazz tenor saxophonist known for her fluid harmonic lines and strong sense for the acoustic post-bop tradition.
On her first jazz quartet "Visions", 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 started performing in Santiago jazzclubs in her early teens. Later, she went on to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston. Aldana graduated from Berklee in 2009, relocating to New York City to study under George Coleman. 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. Reporting her win, the Washington Post described Aldana as representing "a new sense of possibility and direction in jazz".