In the fall of 2013, T.S. Monk was hollering into a hot microphone on the Kennedy Center Stage: “ They gave you their hearts. They gave you their souls. They gave you everything!”
More than a dozen young saxophonists filed out to the exuberant proclamation. That year, tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana, two months shy of 25, eventually would be declared the winner of the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz International Saxophone Competition—the heartiest and most soulful of the saxophonists battling it out that long September afternoon in Washington, D.C.
Almost six years later, Aldana tends to downplay her victory. “It can really get in your head,” she said of her experience, sitting in the rec room of a bustling, century-old hotel in downtown Los Angeles a couple hours prior to her gig at the Walt Disney Concert Hall as a member of the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour all-star sextet. “It’s like checking social media too much. What I prepared for that day when I stepped on the stage was to have fun. That was all I was trying to work on. My performance was a mess, but I did have fun.”
The house band (drummer Carl Allen, bassist Rodney Whitaker and pianist Reggie Thomas) was on its 39th tune of the day when Aldana threw the trio a curveball with a seemingly straightforward original. Her first two tunes, the Jerome Kern standard “Long Ago (And Far Away)” and Thelonious Monk’s “Ask Me Now,” were delivered with confidence and maturity. She opened the Monk tune with a solo flight of rapid-fire turns and fluttering filigrees, leaving her stamp on the day’s proceedings, a burst of applause encouraging her playful decisions. Her final tune, “M&M,” was a jagged melody propelled by Thomas’ thundering left hand.
“I was the last one to play,” Aldana recalled. “Everybody was tired. I didn’t know what was going to happen, and the trio got lost on the last tune. It brought me back to Earth—just worry about finishing together.” She could hear the tune was falling apart and commanded the veteran rhythm section with unflinching confidence, wielding her horn like a giant brass baton and finishing strong. The lack of perfection in the sound was counteracted with a sense of determination worthy of the prize.
“The judges [included] Jimmy Heath, Wayne Shorter, Branford Marsalis—people who have seen everything,” she says. “So, I’m not going to go over and bullshit for them.”
Raised in Santiago, Chile, Aldana studied straightahead jazz with a dedicated fervor. Her father, Marcos, stoked that passion, having taken a swing at the Monk saxophone competition himself back in 1991, when she was an infant. (Joshua Redman won that year.) Studying masters like Sonny Rollins and Don Byas, she took off for Berklee College of Music as a teenager and never looked back. In Boston, she met saxophonist Greg Osby, who offered her a recording contract on his Inner Circle record label.
A recording contract with Concord Records was one of the primary perks from the Monk competition win. Aldana wasted no time in getting her band into the studio, releasing an album the next year with her group Crash Trio. The disc, which opens with “M&M,” highlights Aldana’s striding horn amid the authoritative rhythms of drummer Francisco Mela and the sturdy swing of bassist Pablo Menares. Each member contributed a few tunes to the program, which features a subtle take on Harry Warren’s 1931 song “You’re My Everything.” A high-profile release that was smart and spare, the album showcased Aldana’s indisputable command of her instrument—and she’s become an even better musician in the ensuing years.
Aldana is an old soul behind the microphone. “You can really tell how strong a musician is when it comes to ballads,” she said. “You can hear the depth of musicianship. I’m very attached to ballads. Maybe when I’m older I’ll do a full trio album of ballads.”
In the trio format conquered by Rollins’ late-1950s strolling excursions without benefit of chordal support, a lot hinges on the dialogue between the tenor saxophone and upright bass. “Playing trio taught me a lot about what I’m looking for as a musician,” she said. “It’s more than just having someone who plays well.”
Menares has been a reliable anchor throughout Aldana’s professional career. They met as children in Chile, but didn’t really collaborate until they were both working in the States. His unwavering support and piquant solo lines provide the perfect complement to Aldana’s simmering tone. “I’m used to the space and the freedom and the openness of the music,” he said. “I like to have someone who is looking at the bigger picture.”
Following a win in the 2015 DownBeat Critics Poll (Rising Star–Tenor Saxophone) and the release of a second trio record, 2016’s Back Home (Wommusic), Aldana shifted her artistic direction. Her focus on the bigger picture entailed a larger band and a deep dive into the work of artist Frida Kahlo (1907–’54).
“When I was young, I used to transcribe Frida Kahlo’s paintings,” Aldana said. “The thing that always attracted me to her art was that it was personal. It was related to her experience, her art, her beauty, her relationships, her condition.”
A commission from The Jazz Gallery in New York further sparked Aldana’s inspiration. With a performance expected in June 2018, she dug into Kahlo’s work during the yearlong residency, composing a suite, Visions: For Frida Kahlo. By the time Aldana premiered the work, she had expanded her rhythm section and added two more horn players: her husband, Jure Pukl, on alto saxophone and trumpeter Philip Dizack.
“At some point, I started feeling that I wanted something different,” Aldana recalled. “I heard more piano, and vibraphone is an instrument I have always loved. I wanted to develop my writing more and start incorporating richer harmonies.”
Not long after the premiere of the suite, Aldana spent two days in a New York studio, recording nearly a dozen tracks for her new album, Visions (Motéma). Joining Aldana and Menares for the sessions were pianist Sam Harris, vibraphonist Joel Ross and drummer Tommy Crane.
Aldana feels that Harris—whom she first encountered in New York within days of graduating from Berklee—has helped her artistry evolve.
“I wanted someone to inspire me and push me to different places,” Aldana said. “I haven’t heard somebody else who sounds like Sam. Every time I play, it is an opportunity to grow. If we play something super killing one day, I want him to go the complete opposite direction the next night. He lets me do my thing and is willing to change it up.”
Ross is only 23, but already has made a splash as a pliant firebrand on vibraphone. Before lighting up the marquee with his Blue Note debut, KingMaker, earlier this year, he played vibes alongside Harris for several tracks on Visions. “I’m looking for musicians who will kick my ass and make me grow,” Aldana said with a laugh. “Sometimes Joel makes me feel so old.”
Aldana makes room for everybody on “La Madrina,” part of her suite and the third track on Visions. Harris pushes a steady right hand, his left in tandem with Menares. The bandleader shares a unison melody with Ross at times, his grace notes brightening the musical picture. The tune’s formidable momentum wouldn’t be possible without Crane, who builds patiently alongside Aldana’s intensifying solo.
On “Elsewhere,” the quintet gets a little more jagged. Crane bashes hard on a Latin-flavored beat, making way for Harris to stretch out. Again, Aldana and Ross fly in natural tandem, driving toward the same destination, but in different lanes, always meeting at the light.
There is a lone standard on the album: “Never Let Me Go.” Aldana starts alone, breathy and measured. It’s a delicate, candlelit pace. Aldana floats over the slow-moving ship, the titular phrase returning with regularity. “My constant struggle is, ‘How can I get better and be myself?’ Consistency. Focus. That’s what I’m always trying for. Ballads teach that.”
Visions marks the end of one period and the beginning of another for Aldana, now 30. “All this music is music that we’ve been playing this last year,” she said. “I wanted to develop and grow and then just move forward.”
When she met with DownBeat, Aldana and the Monterey Jazz Festival on Tour band were at their 16th venue in 21 nights. The sextet, under the direction of pianist Christian Sands, spans continents—bassist Yasushi Nakamura is a native of Tokyo, and trumpeter Bria Skonberg is from British Columbia—and includes a couple of other Monk competition winners: drummer Jamison Ross (2012) and vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant (2010).
“The tour has forced me to focus on practicing,” Aldana explained. “I can squeeze in two or three hours every day. Even though everything is focused towards that hour-and-a-half that we are playing, if I have short-term goals, I can really improve and try different things.”
Aldana steadily has been touring the past few years, and is set to traverse Europe with her Visions band this summer. “I’ve been in different all-star bands,” she said. “It’s just amazing to see how everybody comes from so many different places. The audience is different, too. It’s not necessarily my audience. You can have a different point of view, but how you work it out is where the music starts growing.”
Prior to accepting the invitation to become a part of Monterey band, Aldana joined what would eventually be dubbed Artemis, a collective that includes Salvant, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, clarinetist Anat Cohen, pianist Renee Rosnes, bassist Noriko Ueda and drummer Allison Miller. The bandmates bonded during several festival appearances, vowing to record together when schedules permit.
“She’s not only really dedicated to the music, but creates this inspiring environment,” said Salvant, who joined Aldana midway through her interview. “She’s always encouraging us: ‘Let’s try to make something worthwhile. Let’s put ourselves in risky situations and listen to each other.’”
That night on the Disney Concert Hall stage, the band huddled in a tight circle. Following a set by the SFJAZZ Collective—which stretched from one side of the stage to the other—the Monterey band appeared quite intimate. They just as easily could have set up in the freight elevator. But each band member was given ample space to shine, having first played together on the Monterey Fairgrounds rodeo-ready stage the previous summer.
At the festival, Aldana was part of a roundtable discussion on gender equity in jazz. “There has been a greater acknowledgement of women’s contributions to jazz recently,” Aldana told roundtable participants and attendees. “Promoters are trying to incorporate it. I don’t want people to call me because I am a female. As an artist, it is your essence that you are presenting, the mind. If anything, I’d love to inspire younger girls to just be strong about what you have to say.”
In addition to being Aldana’s bandmate, Salvant has collaborated with the saxophonist in a different medium. Aldana commissioned her to create visual artwork for The Jazz Gallery residency, and one of Salvant’s drawings serves as the cover art for Visions. Aptly, the work nods to Kahlo’s famous 1939 painting The Two Fridas. Salvant’s riff on the masterpiece seems to incorporate a cosmic flow of energy amid a yellow sunburst, resulting in a bold gem full of unexplained mystery.
“Melissa pushes us,” Salvant said. “She doesn’t let us get lazy with our shit. I think it ends up bringing out the best in everybody that’s around her. She makes us realize how terrible it is to be complacent.”
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