Jazz saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin: 'I encourage women to embrace their femininity'

Two years ago, the American saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin was involved in a car accident leading to multiple injuries, including a broken jaw. On her album Phoenix, she recounts her resurrection.

“Raised on the streets”: when earlier this year we spoke to the US alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin, she was wearing a casual T-shirt with Big Bird print and that inscription. “I often find things that are out of tune cool,” says the charismatic artist who not only fuses jazz, hip hop and soul, but also connects generations. She had already told us that she had discovered Alice Coltrane's music before she discovered that of her husband John: “I had seen his name in the liner notes, though, and at first, I thought it might be her brother.” (Laughs)

These days, Benjamin appears to be at the forefront of a movement that values Alice Coltrane's musical legacy. When she realised that, just like her, John had played the sax, she made a deal with her local record dealer: he would get her the albums the couple had made together in chronological order, and she would pay him when she had the money. The result of that listening zeal and knowledge of how the two jazz giants interacted shines through on Persuance: The Coltranes, Benjamin's breakthrough album released in March 2020.

But just as her own star began to sparkle, she suffered a motorway accident on her way back from a festival. A few weeks ago, she reposted the photo of her totalled car to express how grateful she is that she is still around to tell the tale. Benjamin woke up on the operating table. So the sirens that can be heard on Phoenix, the record that covers her resurrection, are also autobiographical. “I had broken several bones, but my sax, strangely enough, did not have a scratch! It was recovered intact from the wreckage afterwards, along with a bag containing the proceeds of the CD sales after my show.” She repressed her personal suffering. A week later, she was back at the Pittsburgh International Jazz Festival with a broken jaw. “Even during my European tour, I was still in a lot of pain, but I wanted my fans to be part of my healing. I owed that to them: they had had a hard enough time with the pandemic.”

“Phoenix is an attempt to never give up and keep growing despite everything. I encourage women to embrace their femininity, because that remains a thorny issue, even in the jazz world.” That is why she has surrounded herself with a series of inspiring women whose legacy is undeniable both socially and artistically – from civil rights activist Angela Davis to her producer Terri Lyne Carrington. The late Wayne Shorter is there too. “Not a woman, indeed, but the only older artist I know about who did not see gender. He did not think in patterns. Quincy Jones once introduced him to me at the Monterrey Jazz Festival, where Terri was artist in residence. (Proud) It has come full circle, because this year that honour fell to me.”