Album Review: Phoenix by Lakecia Benjamin

Benjamin's glorious return is full of vitality, excellent fluency, and robust ideas.

Lakecia Benjamin's third album, the fiery and inventive Pursuance: The Colltranes, was released in March 2020. A year later, her automobile went off the road and flipped in a remote region on the way home from a concert in Ohio. A harsh blow to any horn player, but especially one with her enthusiasm, the accident left the Washington Heights native with three broken ribs, a shattered scapula, a punctured eardrum, a concussion, neurological damage, and a broken jaw. Just three weeks later, she was back touring across Europe.

Benjamin's resolve was unshakeable even after the vehicle accident. Her strong will, warmth, and down-to-earth personality shine through in the music, and her hustle and resourcefulness have characterized her career. Her music has a strong melody and a powerful presence; it has a traditional foundation but is also open to multiple musical influences. Its distinct funk implies ties to hip-hop and dancing.

Her latest album, Phoenix, is appropriately named; the record finds power in Benjamin's triumph over adversity. As the globe recovers from the devastating effects of the Covid-19 epidemic and faces the racial realities left in their wake by the actions of post-George Floyd (and, unfortunately, Tyre Nichols), this phrase has additional significance. It's a fantastic, complex album with many featured musicians and exciting concepts. The number of people that helped out is staggering. Music and/or spoken word by Angela Davis, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Dianne Reeves, Julius Rodriguez, Patrice Rushen, Sonia Sanchez, and Wayne Shorter. Some of the players do an excellent job working together.

Album opener Amerikkan Skin is a fiery musical frolic around the spoken word of Angela Davis, and it was co-produced by the talented percussionist and bandleader Terri Lynn Carrington. Over a deceptively buoyant foundation, it has unmistakable unisons with an Eastern flavor. In contrast, trumpeter Josh Evans goes into a different series of chords that also acts as a firm framework for the hilarious discourse that follows Benjamin's spectacular improvisation, which features many figures and a revolutionary impulse.

The album's title track, Phoenix, features Georgia Anne Muldrow's soaring vocals over a suspenseful synth pad. The pad's astonishing patterns are ideal for colorful parallel lines and a sax solo puffed up by deft in-and-out trajectories and clamorous trills. Benjamin displays a creative approach to her sound palette throughout the album.

Vocalist Dianne Reeves takes a different approach to Mercy, providing a peaceful interpretation with a message of love. At the same time, pianist Gould sparkles, and Benjamin constantly weaves in the uplifting melody riff against a trio of strings. The jubilant Jubilation (get it?), which displays Benjamin at her most poetic, has a buoyant solo by pianist Patrice Rushen. The series concludes with a pair of works by poet Sonia Sanchez. The first, Peace Is a Haiku Song, opens with the sound of a ringing phone (also unpleasant). The song is a call for human rights and equality. Much of Sanchez's recitation is carried over into Benjamin's Blast, which has a rhythmic groove, the melancholy trumpet of Wallace Roney, Jr., and the leader's R&B-like playing.

In addition to Phoenix, two more tracks here provide the type of progressive jazz that her many admirers have come to expect. The rumbling, profoundly spiritual modal jam Trane might have fit right in on Pursuance. The album’s final track, Basquiat, is a bit more upbeat, with the saxophone and trumpeter playing in a tight Ornette-esque head. Victor Gould (pianist, organist, etc.) creates a territory that connects the present with the past, and their solos emphasize that idea. Taylor adds some heartfelt emphasis to Benjamin's phrases during her groaning solo before Evans returns to engage the leader in a more challenging outro.

Benjamin's ambition, attention, energy, and perceptiveness are all on display on Phoenix, as is her penchant for daring and exploratory endeavors. With this captivating music, she motivates her band, guests, and audience. There is a vast and rapidly expanding group of promising young saxophonists, and she is in the vanguard of it. The fact that many of these performers are women represents a substantial move away from one of jazz's most lasting stereotypes: the bold, masculine male trumpet player. The music of Ms. Benjamin is just as bold and vital, but it has a distinct perspective.

Great (★★★★☆)

Standout Selections: Amerikkan Skin / Phoenix / Basquiat