Melissa Aldana | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | 3 December 1988 Santiago, Chile |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Instrument | Tenor saxophone |
| Years active | 2004–present |
| Labels | Blue Note, Inner Circle Music, Concord Jazz, Motéma Music |
| Website | www |
Melissa Aldana (born 3 December 1988) is a Chilean tenor saxophone player, who performs both as a soloist and with her band Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio. [1] [2]
Aldana was born in Santiago, Chile. [1] She began playing the saxophone when she was six, [3] under the influence and tuition of her father Marcos Aldana, also a professional saxophonist. [4] [3] Aldana began with alto, influenced by artists such as Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley and Michael Brecker. [4] 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. [4] [1]
She performed in Santiago jazz clubs while in her early teens. [4] [3] 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, [4] [1] as well as auditions at music schools in the USA. [1] As a result of these introductions, she attended the 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. [4] [3] She graduated from Berklee in 2009, relocating to New York City to study under George Coleman. [4]
Aldana recorded her first album, Free Fall, [3] released on Greg Osby's Inner Circle Music imprint, in 2010. [4] [1] Her live performances in this period included performances at the Blue Note Jazz Club and the Monterey Jazz Festival, [3] and her second album, Second Cycle, was released in 2012. [1] In 2013, aged 24, she was the first female musician, the first South American person, and the youngest person to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, in which her father had been a semi-finalist in 1991. [4] [5] [3] The prize was a $25,000 scholarship, and a recording contract with Concord Jazz. [6] Reporting her win, The Washington Post described Aldana as representing "a new sense of possibility and direction in jazz". [4]
In addition, Aldana has been awarded the Altazor National Arts Award of Chile, and the Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award. [4] She has played concerts alongside artists such as Peter Bernstein, Kevin Hays, Christian McBride and Jeff "Tain" Watts, [4] and many festivals including the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz, Vienna Jazz Festival and Providencia Jazz Festival in Chile. [4] She also performed with Jimmy Heath at the 2014 NEA Jazz Masters Award Ceremony, and was invited to Jazz at Lincoln Center by Wynton Marsalis. [1]
In 2012, Aldana formed a group, Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio, with Cuban drummer Francisco Mela and Chilean bassist Pablo Menares, a friend from the jazz scene in Santiago several years prior. [1] [5] In July 2014, this group released their self-titled debut album on Concord Jazz, [4] a recording deal that had formed part of Aldana's prize for winning the Thelonious Monk Award. [1] The group released their second album in March 2016 entitled Back Home, on Wommusic, with drummer Mela replaced by Jochen Rueckert. [1]
Formed in 2017, [7] [8] the Melissa Aldana Quartet includes Aldana on tenor saxophone, Sam Harris on piano (or Lage Lund on guitar [9] ), Pablo Menares on bass and Kush Abadey on drums. [10]
Aldana lives in Washington Heights, Manhattan. [6]
| Title | As | Release date | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Fall | Melissa Aldana | 2010 | Inner Circle Music |
| Second Cycle | Melissa Aldana | 2012 | Inner Circle Music |
| Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio | Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio | July 2014 | Concord Jazz |
| Back Home | Melissa Aldana | March 2016 | Wommusic |
| Visions | Melissa Aldana | May 2019 | Motéma Music |
| 12 Stars | Melissa Aldana | March 2022 | Blue Note Records |
| Echoes of the Inner Prophet | Melissa Aldana | 2024 | Blue Note Records |
Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser", "Ruby, My Dear", "In Walked Bud", and "Well, You Needn't". Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington.
Randolph Denard Ornette Coleman was an American jazz saxophonist, trumpeter, violinist, and composer. He is best known as a principal founder of the free jazz genre, a term derived from his 1960 album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. His pioneering works often abandoned the harmony-based composition, tonality, chord changes, and fixed rhythm found in earlier jazz idioms. Instead, Coleman emphasized an experimental approach to improvisation rooted in ensemble playing and blues phrasing. Thom Jurek of AllMusic called him "one of the most beloved and polarizing figures in jazz history," noting that while "now celebrated as a fearless innovator and a genius, he was initially regarded by peers and critics as rebellious, disruptive, and even a fraud."
Wayne Shorter was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary composer. In 1964 he joined Miles Davis' Second Great Quintet, and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report in 1970. He recorded more than 20 albums as a bandleader.
David Holland is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States since the early 1970s.
John Arnold Griffin III was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Nicknamed "the Little Giant" for his short stature and forceful playing, Griffin's career began in the mid-1940s and continued until the month of his death. A pioneering figure in hard bop, Griffin recorded prolifically as a bandleader in addition to stints with pianist Thelonious Monk, drummer Art Blakey, in partnership with fellow tenor Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis and as a member of the Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland Big Band after he moved to Europe in the 1960s. In 1995, Griffin was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.
Greg Osby is an American saxophonist and composer.
Joseph Salvatore Lovano is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. Though best known as a tenor saxophonist, Lovano has also recorded on alto clarinet, flute and drums, amongst other instruments. He has earned a Grammy Award and several mentions in Down Beat magazine's critics' & readers' polls. His wife is singer Judi Silvano, with whom he records and performs. Lovano was a longtime member of the late drummer Paul Motian‘s trio alongside guitarist Bill Frisell.
"'Round Midnight" is a 1943 composition by American jazz pianist Thelonious Monk that quickly became a jazz standard and has been recorded by a wide variety of artists. A version recorded by Monk's quintet was added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1993. It is one of the most recorded jazz standards composed by a jazz musician.
Cosmic Music is a jazz album by John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane released after John Coltrane's death. John Coltrane only plays on two tracks, "Manifestation" and "Reverend King".
Monk in Motian is a 1988 album by American jazz drummer Paul Motian, his first to be released on the German JMT label and his 11th as a bandleader. The album features ten compositions by Thelonious Monk performed by Motian with his longtime trio, guitarist Bill Frisell and tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano. Pianist Geri Allen and tenor saxophonist Dewey Redman also appear. The album was reissued in 2002 on the Winter & Winter label.
The Panama Jazz Festival was founded in September 2003 by pianist and Grammy winner Danilo Pérez.
Eli Degibri is an Israeli jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger.
Friendly Fire is an album by the American jazz saxophonists Joe Lovano and Greg Osby recorded in 1998 and released on the Blue Note label.
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Claire Daly is a baritone saxophonist and composer.
Patrick Zimmerli is an American saxophonist, composer, arranger, and record producer.
Martin Uherek, is a jazz saxophonist from Slovakia.
Jaleel Shaw is an American jazz alto saxophonist.
Visions is a 2019 studio album by Melissa Aldana, released on the Motéma Music label, featuring music inspired by the life of the Latina painter Frida Kahlo. Three of the tracks on the album were originally on her suite “Visions: For Frida Kahlo”, which was commissioned by the Jazz Gallery.
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