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Tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana’s third Blue Note album Filin is an exquisite ballads album that presents stunning new versions of songs drawn from the Filin music tradition of Cuba, a style of popular song from the 1940s-60s that was deeply influenced by American musicians such as Nat King Cole. The word Filin is derived from "feeling" and the deeply felt performances find Aldana with a remarkable quartet featuring the Cuban pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba with Peter Washington on bass and Kush Abadey on drums, as well as special guest vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant on two tracks. The band also interprets songs by Brazilian composers Hermeto Pascoal (“Little Church”) and Cartola (“Las Rosas No Hablan”). — (via Label)

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The inspiration for Melissa Aldana’s latest Blue Note release, an immaculate ballad album, is the lovelorn balladry of the Cuban filin music tradition that was popular between the late 1940s and early 1960s. The original style combined steamy Cuban rhythms with emotive vocals and added hints of modern jazz (‘Filin music’ broadly translates as ‘Feeling music; Nat King Cole was an inspirational force).

Saxophonist Aldana, in contrast, pares down her trademark complexities and captures the music’s core with clarity, warmth and an unerring narrative drive. Kush Abadey’s supple brushstrokes deliver a firm but unobtrusive pulse, bass notes hover in acres of space and an in-form Cécile McLorin Salvant adds extra sparkle on two tracks.

But it is Aldana’s tonal control and astute lyricism on tenor sax and Gonzalo Rubalcaba’s sparse piano voicings and complementary ripples that make the album stand out. That empathy is clearly marked in the gorgeous sax and piano duet that opens the set and introduces the quartet playing ‘La Sentencia’ – a knockout bonus track presents the duo playing the number in full. — (via JazzWise)

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Many of the great jazz tenor saxophonists have a ballads album that highlights their catalog. That’s true from Coleman Hawkins through John Coltrane, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, and even the late Michael Brecker, among several others. Now, on her third Blue Note release, Filin, Chilean-born tenor saxophonist Melissa Aldana joins this legacy. Yet her approach is very different from the aforementioned in that she does not gravitate to The Great American Songbook, but instead to a still-unheralded tradition of Cuban romantic song that thrived between the late ‘40s and early ‘60s. The word ‘Filin” derives from feeling. So, we have to make two major adjustments to Aldana’s sound. Here, she is not performing with guitarist Lage Lund, who graced her first two albums and created remarkable harmonies with Aldana. Secondly, many of us are hearing this form of Cuban music for the first time, except those who were fans of Buena Vista Social Club’s outstanding vocalist, Omara Portuondo. — (via Glide Magazine)

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Label: Blue Note
Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo
Released: 2026
Genre: Jazz
Style: Cool Jazz

File under: Blue Note
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