March 2026 Check-In's

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Upcoming:

Women In Jazz: Alden Hellmuth Quartet
The 1905 Jazz Club, Portland, Oregon
Saturday, March 14, 2026, 8:30 PM

Alden Hellmuth is a saxophonist, improviser, and composer "out of the ordinary" (In & Out Jazz) and currently based in New York. Originally from Hartford, Connecticut, she grew up surrounded by the legacy of the great saxophonist Jackie McLean and received her bachelor's degree from the Hartt School at the University of Hartford. In 2025 she received her master's degree from the Herbie Hancock Institute at UCLA, where she was mentored by artistic director Ambrose Akinmusire and Herbie Hancock. Grounded by her foundations in tradition and drawn to a wide spectrum of experimental musical practices, Alden is deeply inspired by art that moves with emotion and lives within dissonance. As a composer and improviser, Alden strives for authentic expression through freedom, intuition, and a deep dedication to her craft. Her debut album, "Good Intentions," released in September 2024 under the Fresh Sound New Talent label, won "Debut Album of the Year International" (Deutscher Jazz Preis) and garnered international acclaim, with Steve Smith of For The Record describing it as "a vital debut," and Culture Jazz praising it as "...full of character, great imagination, and vibrant energy." She recently recorded her sophomore album with Justin Brown, Logan Kane, and Miller Wrenn, featuring Paul Cornish and Yakiv Tsvietinskyi.

Alden has been awarded a number of opportunities including Chamber Music America's Performance Plus grant (2025), 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 at venues and festivals across the globe including The Hollywood Bowl (LA), Blue Note Jazz Festival (LA), International Jazz Day (Morocco & Abu Dhabi), Stanford Jazz Festival (CA), the Jazz Aux Ecuries Festival (FR), the Hartford Jazz Festival (CT), Ottawa Jazz Festival (CA), Rochester Jazz Festival (NY), The Jazz Gallery (NYC), Smalls (NYC), Smoke Jazz & Supper Club (NYC), Bird's Eye (CH), Jamboree (ES), The Loft (DE), Porgy & Bess (AU), and many more.

Alden has performed and/or recorded widely across genres with artists including Herbie Hancock, Dianne Reeves, Adi Meyerson, Josh Evans, Lex Korten, Kahiem Rivera, Moses Sumney, and in 2023 released two electronic tracks (sophia x maxine). She has also arranged pieces for Moses Sumney, Brandee Younger, and other artists

MAE. SUN
The 1905 Jazz Club, Portland, Oregon
Wednesday, March 25, 2026, 8:30 PM

In the luminous world of MAE.SUN (aka Hailey Niswanger), music is a sacred collaboration with the divine. Through saxophones, clarinets, flutes, piano, and vocals, she orchestrates sonic landscapes rooted in love, awareness, and healing. After studying jazz at the prestigious Berklee College of Music on full scholarship, she began traveling the world as a professional musician, inspired by a multitude of sounds and teachings. Awakened through Thich Nhat Hanh in 2016, Hailey found a deeper meditation within her music and emerged with a new artist name and sound -- MAE.SUN --releasing three albums: Vol. 1: Inter-be (2017), Vol. 2: Into the Flow (2019), and Vol. 3: Reverence (2024).

Originally from Portland, Oregon, MAE.SUN first began making waves in the jazz community as Hailey Niswanger when she won the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz International Saxophone Competition before graduating high school. Her Billboard-charting debut album Confeddie (2009), garnered praise from jazz critics, including Nat Hentoff of The Wall Street Journal, and was listed among NPR''s top jazz albums of the year. While living in New York City, she released her second and third albums, The Keeper (2012) and PDX Soul (2015), all while touring with Esperanza Spalding's Radio Music Society.

MAE.SUN has continued to collaborate widely across the music world. Her flute can be heard on the Grammy-winning "Black Parade" by Beyonce and on Terri Lyne Carrington's The Mosaic Project. She has been a frequent collaborator with Medasin, and their viral song "Magic" has accrued nearly 70 million streams across music platforms. In 2021, her musical partnership with Mia Garcia brought forth the band OHMA, whose debut album Between All Things (2022) led them to open for FKJ on a North American tour. The duo released their second album, On Loving Earth (2024), and has performed internationally in Japan, Europe, and Mexico, as well as at the Hollywood Bowl with Incubus and on their album Morning View XXIII.

Her collaborations span many genres. She has appeared on NPR's Tiny Desk with Karol G; on Saturday Night Live with Demi Lovato; and on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and The Late Show with David Letterman with Sleigh Bells. She has toured internationally with Clairo and performed with Kenny Barron, Harvey Mason, Vulfmon, The Wolff & Clark Expedition (a collaboration between drummer Mike Clark and pianist Michael Wolff), Kinga Glyk, Ben Williams, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Anna Wise, Louis Futon, and more. For the past 12 years, she has been recognized as a Rising Star in the DownBeat Critics Poll and has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, NPR, JazzTimes, Jazziz, and DownBeat Magazine. MAE.SUN has also performed at numerous venues and festivals across the United States, including New York's Blue Note, National Sawdust, BRIC, Winter Jazz Fest, San Jose Jazz Summerfest, and on WBGO's The Checkout.

When not on the road or in the studio, one can usually find MAE.SUN immersed in nature with a wooden flute in hand. Her sound is a call to remember the interconnectedness of all things, sharing the depth and beauty of life through music.

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