Melissa Aldana in a Matrix of Fabulous Discoveries

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CURATIONS & PROVENANCE

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ARTIST/CREATOR/EDUCATOR

Name: Melissa Aldana
City/Place: New York City
Country: United States
Hometown: Santiago, Chile

Current News

What's Up? Melissa Aldana, a Chilean-born tenor saxophonist, has the elusive ability to balance technical achievement against a rich emotional palette. Visions, her finest album, was inspired by the inner life of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo; it's a brilliant showcase for a band that includes this year's breakout star, Joel Ross, on vibraphone.
—Nate Chinen, WBGO

Life & Work

Bio: 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".

Contact Information

Management/Booking: MANAGEMENT
Robin Tomchin
RT PRODUCTIONS
Email: RTomchin@gmail.com
Office: 212-529-8910
SKYPE: RTPRODS

North American Bookings
Unlimited Myles
www.unlimitedmyles.com

New York, Boston, Midwest, West
Myles Weinstein
(732) 566 - 2881
myles@unlimitedmyles.com

Northeast, South, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio
Rory Trainor
(508) 280 - 1941
rory@unlimitedmyles.com

International Bookings
Katherine McVicker
www.musicworksinternational.com

All Territories Except U.S. and Canada
Katherine McVicker
Music Works International
Phone: +1 781-300-7580
Mobile: +1 339-927-5289
Email: katherine@musicworksinternational.com
Skype: katherine.mcvicker

Media & Markets

▶ Twitter: melissaaldana
▶ Instagram: melissaaldanasax
▶ Website: http://www.melissaaldana.net
▶ YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTuGg1AdaEikWnhn-yTLOUg
▶ YouTube Music: http://music.youtube.com/channel/UCTuGg1AdaEikWnhn-yTLOUg
▶ Spotify: http://open.spotify.com/album/2JXP0VVOjCFDvZ9bPVHcEt
▶ Spotify 2: http://open.spotify.com/album/3CNXkqxyvlUw5883YxcPeh
▶ Spotify 3: http://open.spotify.com/album/16V113jDD7oKNDORxGZm7r
▶ Spotify 4: http://open.spotify.com/album/5CmzBbvCU7PLu0ue8pcazZ
▶ Spotify 5: http://open.spotify.com/album/0h4N2dBuMcbEu1NJB5KB7Y
▶ Spotify 6: http://open.spotify.com/album/6Ut3XbQd6KJpYJfGnFrbme

Quotes, Notes & Etc. “Her tone is as beautiful as her personality... I am sure you will agree.” – Jimmy Heath

“ . . . one of the more exciting young tenor saxophonists today” – The New York Times

“ . . . cultured, emotionally weighted, purposeful.” – The Boston Globe

“In her deft use of light and shade, colour and line, serenity and abandon, Melissa Aldana is a painter . . . an incisive yet melodic sound that’s all her own, and now she’s using that sound to pay homage to a special source of inspiration: the great Mexican painter Frida Kahlo.” – Alexander Varty, Georgia Straight

"With its richly textured soundscapes and emotionally arresting material, Visions makes a clear connection to Kahlo and other Latina pathbreakers past and present... Melissa Aldana [is] a bandleader and musician at the top of her game." – Brian Zimmerman, Jazziz Magazine

“... such a monumental statement... Aldana and Ross’ ferocious exploration of the song’s theme that displays the deft musicality Visions showcases over 12 cuts.” – Dave Cantor, DownBeat Magazine

“ . . . inspired as much by her musical idols Charlie Parker and Wayne Shorter as visual artists like Ecuadorian painter and sculptor Oswaldo Guayasamin and the great Frida Kahlo. The album is a tour de force combining jazz and Latina pride into something vital and exciting.” – Stuart Derdeyn, The Vancouver Sun

“Although she can also play rough and powerful, Aldana usually chooses a more lyrical tenor sound. That fits perfectly with the kind of atmospheric compositions that she writes. With the help of pianist Sam Harris in particular, Aldana brings the meek melodies to life in a magnificent way” – Trouw (Dutch National Newspaper)

"Visions, the fifth effort from Melissa Aldana, is the most ambitious work to date by the 2013 Monk Saxophone Competition winner, a further excursion into Frida Kahlo-inspired compositions that began with a residency commission from The Jazz Gallery. Aldana's band is a quintet of vibraphonist Joel Ross, pianist Sam Harris, bassist Pablo Menares and drummer Tommy Crane. The inclusion of chordal instruments in contrast to her previous pianoless trio outings serves Aldana's distinctive compositional voice, one marked by consummate harmonic acuity." – Russ Musto, The New York City Jazz Record

“Her playing is subtle and elegant and of a highly melodic nature . . . the colorful palette on display here is everything other than inconspicuous. It has the flashy traits of fauvism mixed with the neon of Warhol and a graceful finish like fine brush strokes on canvas . . . Melissa Aldana's Visions proves itself a highlight of this year.” – Friedrich Kunzmann, All About Jazz

“Throughout jazz history, we've heard plenty of tenor saxophone, some of it at genius level, designed to exploit a tendency to talk to oneself. Aldana gives us something else . . . Her inventiveness is nonstop . . . ‘Visions’ helps to further Aldana's reputation for outstanding creative drive on an instrument that has long tended to be overrepresented in jazz. Her skill as a bandleader and composer should keep her profile high.” – Jay Harvey, Upstage

“Artists who captivate listeners time and again are the ones who make themselves vulnerable and uncomfortable. They disrupt themselves intentionally. Melissa Aldana’s expression is rare and wildly evolving as she continues to reach for more.” – Hot House Magazine