Our Alone Together series is a celebration of spontaneous creation, presenting exclusive and unrehearsed duo performances captured live in the intimacy of the SFJAZZ Center. Whether they’re longtime collaborators or meeting on stage for the first time, these world class artists are improvisors of the highest level, creating powerful musical dialogues in the moment.

Saxophonist Melissa Aldana and pianist Taylor Eigsti set a new standard on the 1940 Jimmy Van Heusen classic “Polka Dots and Moonbeams.”

One of the most recorded and performed compositions in the Great American Songbook, “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” was first recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1940, featuring the band’s young vocalist, a then-25-year-old Frank Sinatra, singing Johnny Burke’s lyrics. It was Sinatra’s first hit, and the song notably went on to be recorded by Lester Young, Wes Montgomery, Chet Baker, Bill Evans, and Elmo Hope, among many others.

ABOUT MELISSA ALDANA
Winner of the 2013 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition, Melissa Aldana is clearly one of jazz’s leading lights. Her latest Blue Note album, Echoes of the Inner Prophet, is her most audacious statement to date, named for the title track dedicated to the late Wayne Shorter. Aldana’s bold sound and vision have been nurtured by some of jazz’s most perspicacious talent scouts including Danilo Pérez, George Coleman, Joe Lovano, Greg Osby and her father, saxophonist Marcos Aldana, but the young leader has built a career by turning convention on its ear. Named to DownBeat’s “25 For the Future” list in 2016, she has more than lived up to her potential.

ABOUT TAYLOR EIGSTI
Bay Area native Taylor Eigsti has built a career on superlatives. A virtuoso pianist who began his journey at age four, he released his debut album at 14 and began teaching at Stanford Jazz Workshop the following year. Now a two-time GRAMMY winner and four-time nominee, Eigsti has built a remarkable resume of the music’s greatest names, including Joshua Redman, Dave Brubeck, Lisa Fischer, Terence Blanchard, Julian Lage, Ambrose Akinmusire, Eric Harland, and Gretchen Parlato. Over 50 recording credits and 9 albums as a leader over 25 years have established him as among the most gifted pianists and composers in jazz. His most recent album, Plot Armor, is a 2025 GRAMMY winner.

Personnel:

Melissa Aldana: tenor saxophone
Taylor Eigsti: piano