Lakecia Benjamin: Phoenix
Whirlwind Recordings

When she released her terrific Pursuance: The Coltranes album in 2020, alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin set an extremely high bar for the follow-up that would eventually come. Remarkably, Phoenix is not just a credible sequel, it's arguably as strong as its predecessor. Just as she celebrated John and Alice Coltrane on the earlier set, Benjamin again honours influential figures and personal inspirations, from Angela Davis, Dianne Reeves, Patrice Rushen, and Sonia Sanchez to Wayne Shorter and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Another overt through-line from the earlier album to the new one is the inclusion of “Trane” on Phoenix. On both albums, Benjamin elevates her own artistry by enriching it with the creative work others have done to better the world, be they fellow musicians, thinkers, or political activists.

Having the great drummer Terri Lyne Carrington in the producer's chair obviously doesn't hurt, and the musicians playing with the leader are stellar too. The band features trumpeter Josh Evans, keyboardist Victor Gould, drummer EJ Strickland, percussionist Nêgah Santos, bassist Ivan Taylor, and synth player Orange Rodriguez, and guests appear too, including trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr. on “Blast.” While Benjamin possesses great vision, let's not overlook her skills in the playing and composing departments. Her ever-imaginative alto playing is all over the recording (consider her expansive turn on the title track, for instance), and she writes a solid tune too. Chances are you'll be instantly hooked by the saxophone earworm in “Mercy,” though the track's got a whole lot more going for it, from Dianne Reeves' beautiful vocal (and scatting) to the soulful, strings-sweetened backdrop that gives such a splendid cushion to the singer and saxophonist.

The dynamic opener “Amerikkan Skin” catches the ear with sirens and gunshots before American political activist Davis enters, her commentary setting the stage for the music proper. With the band roiling beneath them, Benjamin and Evans unleash a string of sinuous, Eastern-styled themes, after which the leader delivers the first of many daring, acrobatic solos on the album. The trumpeter shows he's a fitting front-line partner in his own extemporizations, the one on the opener probing and powerful. As commanding as these moments are, the trade-offs that follow the individual spotlights are as memorable.

“New Mornings” brings the intensity level down ever so slightly from the opener with a singing, blues-inflected number, Evans on mute, Benjamin riding the changes volubly, and an undercurrent of yearning audible in the organ-enhanced expression. Nudging the album into a slightly different direction, “Phoenix” works vocals and synths by Georgia Anne Muldrow into a towering, funk-inflected statement. On an album mostly written by Benjamin, pianist Patrice Rushen not only guests on the rousing “Jubilation” but wrote the sparkling high-flyer.

Benjamin cedes the spotlight to poet Sonia Sanchez for her spoken word performance (nicely accompanied by Taylor on double bass), “Peace is a Haiku Song,” which segues into the leader's muscular “Blast,” fragments of the poet's voice emerging in the arrangement. It's not Shorter's horn but his voice that appears, by the way, on the brief “Supernova,” but it's great to hear him no matter what form that takes. For anyone wanting to hear Benjamin and company tackling traditional jazz, there's the burning “Moods”; in like manner, “Trane” sees the ensemble digging into vintage Blue Train-styled territory.

January 2023