Saxophonist/Composer Melissa Aldana was born in 1988 in Santiago,
Chile. She began her music studies at the age of 6 with her father Marcos Aldana who is a well known and respected saxophone player in Chile. Aldana hit the
Chilean jazz scene as soon as she was able to, where she gained
tremendous respect from main stay jazz artists, who were impressed by
her forthright approach to the music.


Melissa received the Berklee Presidential Scholarship on 2007. It was at
Berklee where she started to develop her own voice as a composer. She
studied improvisation and composition with the best of the best, Joe
Lovano, George Garzone, Frank Tiberi, Greg Osby and Hal Crook among others

After graduating on 2009, Melissa moved to New York City where she
resides. Quickly she has become part of the city’s jazz scene,
performing with her own quartet and as a “sideman” at the best New
York clubs and concert halls like, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center,
Village Vanguard, The Blue Note, Iridium, Smalls, Jazz Gallery, Birdland Jazz club, Jazz Standard and shares stage with some of the greatest jazz artists like
Benny Golson, Greg Osby, George Coleman,Greg Hutchinson, Marc
Copland, Kendrick Scott , Ben Monder,Joey Defrancesco, Peter Bernstein.
Aldana has also played in international jazz
festivals like, Montreal Jazz Festival, Canada, Panama Jazz Festival,
Festival Jazzuv Mexico, Festival de Jazz de Madrid, Spain,
with Jazz luminaries like McCoy Tyner, Jeff “Tain” Watts,Francisco Mela and George
Garzone to name few.
Melissa made her record debut under Greg Osby’s record label “Inner
Circle Music” on 2010. “Free Fall” and also just releases her last album "Second Cycle" her first and Second album obtained an
outstanding critic within the jazz community, and was reviewed at
“Downbeat magazine”, “Jazz Times” and "NY Times"