Alden Hellmuth

Alden Hellmuth is a saxophonist, improviser, and composer based in New York City. Originally from Hartford, Connecticut, she grew up surrounded by the legacy of the great saxophonist Jackie McLean. She is currently pursuing her masters through the Herbie Hancock Institute at UCLA and received her bachelor degree in music management through the Hartt School, where she studied with saxophonist Abraham Burton. Led by her foundation in the tradition of BAM and passion for a vast spectrum of experimental musical idioms, Alden is deeply inspired by contemporary composers like Ingrid Laubrock, Steve Lehman, and Ambrose Akinmusire, and visual artists like Louise Bourgeois. As a composer and improviser, Alden aims to continuously push and question the boundaries of genre. Her latest quintet project “Good Intentions,” which explores conflict, resolution, and the intersections of opposition, is set to be released this summer under the Fresh Sound New Talent label.

Alden has been awarded a number of opportunities including ASCAP’s Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award (2024), New Music USA Next Jazz Legacy Semi-Finalist (2022), The Focusyear Fellowship (2021-22), and since 2016 has participated in numerous programs committed to the support and empowerment of female artists, including the Women In Jazz Organization and the Dorothy Goodwin Fund. She has performed, as both a leader and sideman, at The Jazz Gallery (NYC), Smalls (NYC), Smoke Jazz & Supper Club (NYC), the historical Minton's Playhouse (NYC), Bird’s Eye (CH), Jamboree (ES), The Loft (DE), Porgy & Bess (AU), the Jazz Aux Écuries Festival (FR), the Composers Now Festival (NYC), the Hartford Jazz Festival (CT), Ottawa Jazz Festival (CA), Rochester Jazz Festival (NY), and many more international venues and festivals. In 2021 Alden was selected to participate in the prestigious Focusyear program at Jazzcampus in Basel, Switzerland where she regularly performed with jazz masters including Lionel Loueke, Ingrid Laubrock, Aaron Parks, Kris Davis, Tineke Postma, Miguel Zenon, Linda May Han Oh, Jorge Rossy, Chris Cheek, Larry Grenadier, Guillermo Klein, and more. In May 2022 the band released an album of original music, titled Tiny Windows, under the German label Neuklang.

Alden has performed in a variety of bands led by Pablo Held, Nat Reeves, Josh Evans, Adi Meyerson, Dezron Douglas, David Bryant, Sara McDonald (the NY Chillharmonic), Juno Roome, and toured internationally with Dianne Reeves and Herbie Hancock (HHIJ Us State Department Tour 2024), the Focusyear Band (2022), and Jeremy Pelt (2017). She has also arranged pieces for Moses Sumney, Brandee Younger, and other artists.