Melissa Aldana Crash Trio

Melissa Aldana, the daughter of famed Chilean saxophonist Marcos Aldana, learned well from her father. Heavily influenced by Sonny Rollins, Don Byas, and Mark Turner, Aldana has performed with a parade of top-notch jazz artists: George Coleman, Greg Osby, Christian McBride, and Jeff “Tain” Waits, among others. Aldana is notably the first South American and first female to win the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. Aldana’s first lesson comprised of being taught just two notes, but she was hooked from there. Learning from transcriptions of her favorite Charlie Parker songs, she has since developed her own personal sonic vocabulary, augmented by her Crash Trio. This trio format has become a pillar of Aldana’s sound, which pays homage to the masters she grew up listening to. Known almost as much for her backstory as her talent, she recounts “I understand that being from Chile, being young and being a woman makes me stand out, but what I really want people to see is that jazz and music transcends gender and age. The most important thing is the quality of the music and what you feel when you hear it.”