Wellington Jazz Festival and Melissa Aldana

Melissa Aldana, born in Santiago, Chile, is a renowned jazz tenor saxophonist influenced by Sonny Rollins. She graduated from Berklee and moved to NYC to learn from George Coleman. At 24, Aldana made history by becoming the first female and South American to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition, gaining a $25,000 scholarship and a Concord Jazz contract. The Washington Post hailed her as a new direction in jazz.