Alden Hellmuth

Saxophonist and composer Alden Hellmuth is an artist who came out of the gate as a bold personality who is determined to carve he own path in the world of jazz. She adopts an adventurous side on her debut album Good Intentions (2024) that draws from free jazz (in the mold of Ornette Coleman) as much as it does from dissonant, avant-garde music. She works in an improvisational style, hitting a sound that may not be everyone's cup of tea at the end of the day, but comes across as meticulously constructed and performed, though with plenty of room to explore. Her pieces can be lyrical, romantic, jittery, tense, but always with a recognizable melodic core.