Upswing: Melissa Aldana

Winner of the 2013 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Melissa Aldana is clearly one of jazz’s leading lights. Her latest Blue Note album, Echoes of the Inner Prophet, is her most audacious statement to date, named for the title track dedicated to the late Wayne Shorter.

Aldana’s bold sound and vision have been nurtured by some of jazz’s most perspicacious talent scouts including Danilo Pérez, George Coleman, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby and her father, saxophonist Marcos Aldana, but the young leader has built a career by turning convention on its ear. Named to DownBeat’s “25 For the Future” list in 2016, she has more than lived up to her potential.