JAZZ ON SUNDAY: LAKECIA BENJAMIN - AUSTRIA 2022
March 12, 2023 – 7:18 am
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LAKECIA BENJAMIN
Salzburg 2022 [no label, 1CD]
Live at Jazzit, Salzburg, Austria; October 24, 2022. Very good digital radio.
Thanks to unclewolfi for sharing the show at Dime.
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On March 27, 2020, the dynamic young saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin delivers her masterwork, Pursuance: The Coltranes. A cohesive walk through the lineage of the jazz artform, Benjamin’s third full-length release as a leader pays homage to two of the greatest musical innovators of the 20th century, John and Alice Coltrane. With this release, Benjamin opens herself up as such a vessel, speaking timeless truths through her horn over the medium of Coltrane’s classic compositions alongside elders of this artform who bore witness to the conception of this material.
Under the tutelage of jazz luminary and co-producer Reggie Workman whose supple bass lines underscored countless Alice and John Coltrane’s recordings, Benjamin has assembled an astonishing cross-generational ensemble of over 40 jazz heavyweights that includes Ron Carter, Gary Bartz, Regina Carter, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Meshell Ndgecello, Steve Wilson, Marc Cary, Keyon Harrold, Marcus Strickland, Brandee Younger and Jazzmeia Horn - Three generations of musical titans gathered to celebrate and further the message of the great maestros of this improvisational artform, John and Alice Coltrane.
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Hugh Morris, theguardian.com:
During a fallow work period in the early 2000s, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin took matters into her own hands. “People weren’t calling me for gigs, so I started jumping on their stages to get them to hire me,” she says. Two attempts to crash a Prince gig in Las Vegas were thwarted, first by the singer’s unexpected medley of unsuitable a cappella numbers and then by a bouncer. After Prince read about the commotion, he invited Benjamin to try out for his band, and she played for two weekends at the end of his residency. “I had to do dramatic things to get attention,” she says.
Benjamin’s striking personality flows through her stories: she embodies jazz as an attitude and a look, as well as a sound. “You’re not here to get out of bed and go on stage looking the same as the guy in the front row,” she says of the metallic clothing she wears on the cover of Phoenix [2023], her fourth album. “Your presentation is a representation of your music before it’s heard.”
Phoenix is an apposite title: a creative rebirth for Benjamin after lockdown. Opening with the whining sirens of Amerikkan Skin, Benjamin fuses her bop vocabulary and funk grounding to create an album that’s urgent and inventive, while strengthening themes of community solidarity introduced on her three previous solo records.
In September 2021, Benjamin was singing along to Kenny Garrett while driving back from a festival in Pittsburgh. The next thing she remembers is being dragged through the woods by a stranger, covered in mud and blood. Benjamin had crashed her car, breaking her jaw, shoulder blade and multiple ribs, and perforating her eardrum. The person who cut her out of the wreckage fled without leaving a name once the authorities arrived. After completing a tour with her jaw still broken, her recovery was made more traumatic by the pandemic. Fifteen of Benjamin’s family died of Covid-19; “two right now are hanging on for dear life,” she adds.
Thoughts of death and legacy inform Phoenix: the ballad Rebirth reflects her family’s recent losses. Benjamin’s previous releases emphasised her multi-generational approach to jazz, enlisting esteemed performers such as Ron Carter alongside newer voices such as Brandee Younger. With Phoenix, she added another criterion: highlighting “those who aren’t getting enough shine”. Patrice Rushen sits alongside Angela Davis and Wayne Shorter. “We know her after Forget Me Nots but we don’t know her whole jazz repertoire, her piano playing,” she says. “I’m trying to highlight people so they get their flowers while they’re still alive.” Once, Benjamin would seize stages seeking recognition; now she’s beckoning others back for another bow.
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Lineage:
dvb-s > digital devices cine s2 v7a twin tuner > hdd > nero wave editor > flac
(mpeg1 layer 2/256 kbps) [radio station - oe1]
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Track 01. Liberia * 13:54
Track 02. intro 1:37
Track 03. Syeeda’s Song Flute * 16:39
Track 04. Turiya And Ramakrishna * 12:19
Track 05. Spiral * 4:59
Track 06. intro 0:17
Track 07. Walk With Me * 10:23
Track 08. My Favorite Things 14:23
Track 09. intro 0:29
Track 10. Alabama * 7:49
83 mins
* Tracks from Pursuance: The Coltranes [2020]
Lineup
Lakecia Benjamin - alto saxophone
Miki Hayama - piano
Ivan Taylor - bass
EJ Strickland - drums
Click here to order Lakecia Benjamin releases.
8 Responses to “JAZZ ON SUNDAY: LAKECIA BENJAMIN - AUSTRIA 2022”
This darkie gal likes her dudes on the big side I hear . Big ole hoagies and trouser trout. She likes em big in the britches
By ELU on Mar 12, 2023
Rumor has it this is a young lady who prefers Big Uns
By U L E on Mar 12, 2023
Of course
By U L E on Mar 12, 2023
Who starts these rumors?
By Jocko P on Mar 12, 2023
Hey Jocko P, rumors recently circulating that it is your very own self who keeps starting these rumors. We all know you are an attention seeking numbnut - so stopping ask stooopid questions!
By HHH on Mar 12, 2023
The of course implies that she like big uns because she’s black . Right U ?
By T J on Mar 13, 2023
Reindeer say… Swappers out!
Now!
By Lawn Reindeer on Mar 14, 2023
But what does reindeer know?
By HHH on Mar 14, 2023