Label: Whirlwind Recordings, 2023

Personnel - Lakecia Benjamin: alto saxophone, vocals, synth; Victor Gould: piano, organ, Fender Rhodes; Ivan Taylor: acoustic and electric bass; EJ Strickland: drums; Josh Evans: trumpet (#1,2,3,8,12,13); Nêgah Santos: percussion (#5); Wallace Roney Jr.: trumpet (#7); Anastassiya Petrova: Fender Rhodes, organ (#5); Orange Rodriguez: synth (#1,3); Jamal Nichols: bass (#2); Dianne Reeves: vocals (#4); Angela Davis: spoken word (#1,13); Sonia Sanchez: spoken word/poet (#6,7); Georgia Anne Muldrow: synth, vocals (#3); Patrice Rushen: piano (#5); Wayne Shorter: spoken word (#11).

This new album from saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin gave her plenty of stylistic variety to expand the possibilities of her instrument. Accompanied by highly malleable musicians, she included relevant guests to bolster her pertinent messages and states of mind.

The album, co-produced with Terri Lynn Carrington (a terrific drummer and bandleader), starts off with the burning “Amerikkan Skin”, romping around the activism words of Angela Davis with a plain, direct musical speech. It incorporates unequivocal unisons with an Eastern tinge over a disarmingly effervescent texture. Benjamin’s dazzling improvisation comes with multiple figures and a revolutionary urge, while trumpeter Josh Evans steps into a different sequence of chords which also serves as a solid support for the witty dialogue that follows.

“New Mornings” injects gently grooving soul and funk in the jazzy envelope, but it’s “Phoenix”, featuring Georgia Anne Muldrow on synth and vocals, that thickens the tapestries via an accented sleek funk. The cool patterns are perfect for colorful parallel lines and a sax solo puffed up by dexterous in-and-out trajectories and clamorous trills.

Dianne Reeves brings her vocal range and unique timbre into “Mercy”, whose delicacy contrasts with the energy of “Jubilation”. The latter piece thrives under the propulsive Latin feel provided by Brazilian percussionist Nêgah Santos and the guest pianism of Patrice Rushen. The ebullience of “Moods” finds Benjamin and Evans in stark counterpoint. They are the soloists here, with drummer EJ Strickland searching for space too with an outgoing posture.

Buoyed by modal jazz and fervent spirituality, “Trane” prowls familiar musical ground as it presses forward on the heels of Benjamin’s previous album, Pursuance: The Coltranes (Ropeadope, 2020). The linguistic competence of John Coltrane and the fluidity of McCoy Tyner are evoked with the bandleader and keyboardist Victor Gould at the fore. The album is completed with “Basquiat”, a muscular avant-garde wallop that swings in homage to experimental art.

Benjamin’s grandiose comeback is replete with energy, an astonishing fluency, and strong ideas.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Amerikkan Skin ► 03 - Phoenix ► 12 - Basquiat

Label: Ropeadope, 2020

Personnel - Lakecia Benjamin: alto sax, keyboards; Gary Bartz: alto sax; Greg Osby: alto sax; Steve Wilson: alto sax; Marcus Strickland: bass clarinet; Keyon Harrold: trumpet; Jazzmeia Horn: vocals; Dee Dee Bridgewater: vocals; Georgia Anne Mudrow: vocals; Ricardo Ramos: guitar; Brandee Younger: harp; Sharp Radway: piano; Chris Rob: piano, organ; David Bryant: piano, Rhodes; Marc Cary: piano; Meshell Ndegeocello: bass; Reggie Workman: bass; Lonnie Plaxico: bass; Ron Carter: bass; Darrell Green: drums; and more.

On her new outing, Pursuance: the Coltranes, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin is far from the cosmopolitan sounds of funk and R&B and closer to the spiritual modal jazz. She interprets a collection of 13 tunes by Alice and John Coltrane, all recast through series of dynamic alterations and multiple perspectives rooted in her own beliefs. The album comes equipped with a large cross-generational lineup that includes colossal bassists Reggie Workman and Ron Carter, saxophonist Gary Bartz, violinist Regina Carter, and vocalists Dee Dee Bridgewater and Jazzmeia Horn, among many others.

“Liberia” channels an incredible modal energy, featuring two saxophones in prayer (Benjamin and Bartz), fervent piano voicings, and a strong bass-drums connection. A jubilant swinging infection takes hold of the improvisational section, and an analogous approach is observable on “Syeeda’s Flute Song”, where the happy melody bumps into spacious harmonizations provided by David Bryant’s Fender Rhodes. The bassist here is Ron Carter and the solos belong to Benjamin and trumpeter Keyon Harrold.

Violinist Regina Carter comes to the forefront on “Walk With Me”, solemnly combining her sound with bowed bass before a groove emerges to promote openness, and “Going Home”, which weaves a contemplative path that finds the sweet spot between chamber music (with violin, flute, bass clarinet, and the harp sweeps of Brandee Younger) and gospelized spiritual.

An African-tinged pulse and key-shifting melody mark the soothing “Prema”, while, in a reverse direction, “Central Park West” is given a soul/funky treatment, brandishing a whirling piano motif at the core of its A section. The scat singing featured on the latter is by the illustrious Jazzmeia Horn, who is heard volleying with the bandleader by the end. Another guest singer to appear on the recording is Dee Dee Bridgewater, whose terrific blend of technique and emotion eulogizes the spectacular “Acknowledgement”, here beautifully introduced by the pacific waves of “Alabama”.

Both written by Alice, “Om Shanti” and “Turiya and Ramakrishna” are mantric exercises holding an optimal amount of emotional meaning. The former is professed with the vocal energy of Georgia Anne Mudrow, a popping electric bass groove supplied by Meshell Ndegeocello, and Ricardo Ramos’ distorted guitar; the latter piece is sensitively brushed throughout its insistent circularity. In a distinct note, “Affinity” closes out the album with a polyrhythmic, at times free-ish ramble that counts on Workman’s sturdy bass lines and saxophonist Greg Osby’s smart obliquities to succeed.

Benjamin was a rigorous apprentice of the Coltrane-isms, but don’t think this is a by-the-numbers rip-off of the pair’s art, since she inducts a lot of her own ideas into the mix.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - Liberia ► 03 - Central Park West ► 12 - Turiya and Ramakrishna