Due to popular demand, jazz trio adds more performance dates at Carnahan Hall

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – The Melissa Aldana & Crash Trio will perform at 8 p.m. Oct. 17, and at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Oct. 18 at Carnahan Hall.

This general admission performance is presented by Purdue Convocations with Friends of Convocations support from Dr. Nancy DiMartino and Stephen Borghi.

The Friday evening and late night Saturday performances have been added due to popular demand. Doors open 60 minutes in advance of each performance's start time.

Chilean saxophonist Melissa Aldana is a new voice in the growing global vocabulary of jazz. Fronting a sax-bass-drums setup, named the Crash Trio for its sudden, unpredictable intensity, the 24-year-old Aldana swirls Afro-Latin grooves and the percussive strut of "chinchineros" (Chilean street musicians) into straight-ahead swing standards and free-form improvisation. By age 16, this third generation of jazz saxophonists was headlining jazz clubs in her native Santiago.

After arriving in America with a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music, Aldana cut two solo albums ("Free Fall" and "Second Cycle") for Inner Circle Music. Last year, she became the first female instrumentalist to win the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Her prize money funded an inaugural recording with the Crash Trio, featuring fellow Chilean Pablo Menares on bass and Francisco Mela on drums.

Blending Aldana's technique with a rhythm section, the trio will energize the intimate club setting of Carnahan Hall, a new music venue on Lafayette's Main Street.

General admission tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for those 18 years and younger, Purdue students and Ivy Tech Lafayette students. Tickets are available at the Stewart Center box office at 765-494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW. Group discounts are also available to groups of 10 more. Call 765-496-1977 for more details or visit http://www.convocations.org/tickets

Initiated in 1902, Purdue Convocations is among the oldest collegiate performing arts presenters in the United States. Convocations brings a diverse array of world-class performances and intellectual encounters, connecting them to our academic, local, and regional audiences through educational opportunities. 

Source: Abby Eddy, Purdue Convocations director of marketing, 765-494-9712, aeeddy@purdue.edu 

Note to Journalists: Publication-quality photographs are available at http://www.convocations.org/press.