Over the past decade-plus, alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin, 40, has been one of the key figures reinvigorating jazz from the inside. Born and raised in New York and educated at LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts (the famed Fame school) and the New School, Benjamin has worked with artists as diverse as David Murray and Stevie Wonder. Her last album, , was a starry tribute to the legacy of John and Alice Coltrane. (Whirlwind Recordings), her latest—to belabor an already labored metaphor—has Benjamin rising from the pandemic’s ashes.
