This album sees her fronting her current quintet and tends toward personal and general introspection, reflecting as it does the events of the past couple of years. Aldana never confuses introspection with introversion, however, gliding with natural ease from warm intimacy to a fluidity that traverses bebop-to-free with confidence.

With her now fully-formed quintet, Melissa Aldana’s latest recording is a personal and sensitive one, while also allowing her to debut to a wider audience on Blue Note – she gets to enjoy something of a fresh start with *12 Stars*, with the expertise of someone who’s been carefully crafting her own music for over a decade now.

With 12 Stars, Aldana puts all of her colorful sonic and emotional textures on display.

It’s a brave move indeed to make a label debut as introspective as Aldana does here, but equally remarkable is how 12 Stars manages it without ever feeling forced or leaving the listener overwrought. Aldana’s first leader disc on Blue Note already feels like an album of the year contender.