Although her music is embedded in traditional jazz, Chilean tenor saxophonist and composer Melissa Aldana has a completely unique sound. She is a very accomplished technical player, yet her compositions are brimming with a lyrical quality. As the first female instrumentalist as well as the first Latin American musician, Aldana won the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 2013. Besides a scholarship, the outcome was a contract with the acclaimed Concord Jazz label. In recent years, Aldana has performed at major international jazz festivals, like Umbria Jazz, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the Vienna Jazz Festival. At the end of last year, she released the album
Sesc Jazz with her
Melissa Aldana Quartet; in Rotterdam she will be performing in a quartet as well, with Lage Lund on gitaar, Josh Ginsburg on double bass and Kush Abadey on drums. Recently Aldana released her album
Visions, based on the life of Frida Kahlo. Special detail: singer and colleague Cécile McLorin Savant designed the album cover
