Melissa Aldana,Saxophone with Pablo Menares and Allan Mednard

10 Friday January 22 Melissa Aldana, saxophone with Pablo Menares and Allan Mednard

Melissa aldana Melissa Aldana tenor sax

Melissa Aldana began playing saxophone at the age of six. She watched pupils come Pablo Menares to her home in Santiago, Chile to take lessons from her father, renowned saxophonist bass Marcos Aldana, and pestered him to teach her, too. Her adolescence was filled with Allan Mednard learning solos of jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Cannonball Adderley and Michael drums Brecker. Influenced by Sonny Rollins, she switched from alto to tenor sax.

By her early teens, she was frequenting the Santiago jazz clubs, and by the age of 16, she was headlining sets at the Club de Jazz de Santiago, the hub of the Chilean jazz community at the time. Pianist Danilo Pérez invited her to play at the Panama Jazz Festival and was instrumental in bringing her to the U.S., arranging auditions for her at Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory. Accepted at both schools, she chose Berklee, studying under Joe Lovano, George Garzone, Frank Tiberi, Greg Osby, Hal Crook, Dave Santoro, Bill Pierce, Dino Govoni and Ralph Peterson and citing Mark Turner and Don Byas as lasting influences.

Moving to New York, she was mentored by legendary saxophonist George Coleman and recorded her first album, Free Fall, for Greg Osby’s label Inner Circle Music. Second Cycle followed in 2012. Her big break came when Osby invited her to play a weeklong residency at the Village Vanguard. Since then, she has performed in such prestigious venues as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola, Blue Note, Jazz Standard, Museum of Modern Art, Small’s and Jazz Gallery and at festivals including Monterey Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz in Italy, Barcelona Jazz Festival in Spain and Providencia Jazz Festival in Chile, sharing the stage with some of the greatest contemporary jazz artists of our time. Over the last two years, she has performed with Chilean bassist Pablo Menares and Cuban drummer Francisco Mela as the Crash Trio.

In 2013, at age 24, Melissa won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. She also won the National Arts Award “Altazor” in Chile for Best Album and received the Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award. In 2014, Melissa and the Crash Trio released their self-titled debut album for Concord. Melissa’s upcoming album will be released on Word of Mouth Music in March 2016.

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