Soho Jazz Festival 2019

Melissa Aldana Quartet

Event Has Passed

Last Show: Tuesday 9 th July 2019

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

As a child, Chilean-born saxophonist Melssa Aldana studied with her renowned saxophonist father Marcos Aldana (son of saxophonist Enrique Aldana, whose Selmer Mark VI tenor Melissa performs with to this day). She began on alto but after hearing the landmark Sonny Rollins + 4 she switched to tenor and never looked back. Other important influences she cites range from Don Byas, Gene Ammons and Lucky Thompson to Chris Potter and Mark Turner.

“The austere and translucent beauty of her tone, the serpentine complexity of her solos and the gnarly idiosyncrasies of her compositions point to a young artist clearly determined to go her own way.”

Chicago Tribune

In 2007 Aldana moved to Boston to enroll at Berklee, coming under the mentorship of tenor great George Garzone. Pianist Danilo Pérez and saxophonist Patricia Zarate provided Aldana with crucial support and guidance as well. In 2009 she took the plunge to New York and began apprenticing with greats such as Greg Osby and George Coleman, among others. In 2013 she became the first female instrumentalist and the first South American ever to win the Thelonious Monk Competition. She is also a recipient of the Martin E. Segal Award from Jazz at Lincoln Center and a double recipient of the Altazor Award, Chile’s highly prestigious national arts prize.

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