Melissa Aldana Quartet | Farrell Family Athenaeum Jazz: Summer 2025 Series | Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
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The series concludes on June 21 with the return of the Melissa Aldana Quartet, with Aldana on tenor sax, Fabian Almazan on piano, Pablo Menares on bass, and Kush Abadey on drums. Aldana’s last Athenaeum performance was in March 2020, when she played music from her album "Visions" for Frida Kahlo, which earned her a first-ever GRAMMY nomination for Best Improvised Jazz Solo.
Her program this June will feature music from her 2024 release on Blue Note Records, Echoes of the Inner Prophet. A native of Chile, Aldana moved to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music. In 2013, at age 24, she became the first female instrumentalist and the first South American musician to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition.
Her latest album explores a fascinating paradox. As Aldana explains, it reflects her “personal journey, with an especially introspective point of view. The inner prophet is my own self, now older, who has the knowledge and the intuition and the truth about what my path should be. So, it’s this idea of connecting with that inner prophet,” she continues, “which reveals things about myself, including those things I don’t like.” At the same time, this deeply intimate, searching project is a celebration of collaboration and community. It documents the evolution of her quartet, capturing the collective insight they’ve garnered after extensive touring and travel, and arguing for their place among the most incisive working groups in jazz today.
Visit: https://www.ljathenaeum.org/events/jazz-25-0621
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Athenaeum Music & Arts Library
The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, located in the heart of La Jolla, Calif., in San Diego County, is one of only 16 nonprofit membership libraries in the United States. This rare cultural institution, an important one to the greater San Diego area, offers a depth and accessibility of resources and programs found nowhere else in the region. The library, devoted exclusively to music and art, has an outstanding and ever-expanding collection of books, periodicals, reference material, compact discs, videocassettes, DVDs, sheet music and librettos, as well as one of the most significant collections of artists' books in Southern California. The library is open to the public five days a week and members can check out materials for a modest annual fee. The Athenaeum also presents an eclectic, year-round schedule of art exhibitions, concerts (classical, jazz and new music), lectures, studio art classes through its School of the Arts, tours and special events. To quote the San Diego Union-Tribune, "There are few libraries in America as unusual as the Athenaeum Music & Arts Library." Admission: Admission to the library is free. Gallery exhibits are free and open to the general public. Materials may be used in the library or checked out by members. Borrowing privileges are limited to members only. Books may be checked out for four weeks and all CDs, videos and DVDs for two weeks. Materials may be reserved in advance. Guided Tours: Free guided tours take place the third Saturday of every month at 11 a.m.