The three-year gap between the 2013 Thelonious Monk Prize winner Melissa Aldana's fifth album, Visions, released on the East coast musician-centric Motéma imprint, and the previous one, Back Home, might have played its part in fostering the growth of a sense of self. Aldana's playing on Visions is glowing with maturity, transcending as well as refining her solid bebop-centred background (she was highly disciplined in that tradition in Chile by her locally renowned sax-playing father Marcos). She has shifted more assertively into an area that also echoes more contemporary influences, such as Mark Turner and Chris Potter. That's not something that's happened exclusive of her writing: new stretched forms are powered by her sensuous, lyrically flowing narrative on tenor sax. Especially so on three programmatic tracks written for a recent commission inspired by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. Aldana's tenor is warmly effusive yet languid, and there's a vocal-like quality to her sound; she uses pitch-bends not just for effect but as an expressive addition to her vernacular. The one standard, ‘Never Let Me Go’, is a reminder of her allegiance to the smoky tenor tradition, and features a playfully old-school piano solo by Sam Harris, a resourceful Ambrose Akinmusire sideman. His and new vibraphone star Joel Ross’ contributions are colourful yet non-intrusive, while Aldana's Santiago compatriot Pablo Menares' slippery latin-orientated bass tastefully anchors the set. On Visions Melissa Aldana is starting to fulfil all that original potential.