Lakecia Benjamin, a rising star on the jazz scene, has recently released a tribute record to John and Alice Coltrane. It is quite a revelation. Her recording is Pursuance: The Coltanes and it is a powerful experience of inspired performances.
Propelled by an all-star band of some of the finest jazz artists in the business, the album is a real treat. Guests include legendary saxophonist Gary Bartz, violinist Regina Carter, bassist Ron Carter, and others. For the centerpiece of the recording, guests Dee Dee Bridgewater on vocals and Abiodum Oyeale on spoken word collaborate with Benjamin for the centerpiece of the entire disc, "Acknowledgement". Amazingly, the song gives the listener a direct experience of the innermost essence of sacred jazz music.
Highlights of the recording include: "Liberia", "Walk With Me", "Syeeda's Song Flute", "Om Shanti", "Acknowledgement" and "Turiya and Ramikrishna".
Lakecia Benjamin is an alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Benjamin has worked with many of the luminaries in jazz including Clark Terry, Reggie Workman, Rashied Ali, Vanessa Rubin and James 'Blood" Ulmer. As a leader, Benjamin fronts Lakecia Benjaim and Soul Squad, which fuses jazz,hiphop and soul into an immediately accessible, danceable groove.
Benjamin's focus on John and Alice Coltrane points towards their immense impact on the "Free" Jazz movement of the 1960s. This movement towards free jazz, especially motivated by sacred concerns, was announced to the world on John Coltrane’s Meditations CD which opened with the profound religious statement of “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost". Alice Coltrane joined the band shortly thereafter as the pianist after McCoy Tyner left the Coltrane organization. In live performances John and Alice Coltrane and noted bandmates such as Pharoah Sanders and Rashied Ali went on to take the music into fearless and bold expressions of inspired, profound sacred free jazz, only equalled by the acclaimed saxophonist Albert Ayler(who was a friend of John Coltrane).
For more information you may visit www.lakeciabenjamin.com
