Jazz fans sometimes have to be patient. Because claustrophobics would have had a tough time in Bix this Saturday.
The sweaty club is packed, and Lakecia Benjamin’s reputation has obviously preceded her. And why not – her collaborations with, among others, Reggie Workman, Jazzmeia Horn, Regina Carter, Marcus Strickland, Ron Carter, Meshell Ndegeocello, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Greg Osby speak for themselves.
The jostling was definitely worth it. Seldom has such a temperament been seen at Leonhardsplatz in Stuttgart. Trane is the name of the wild, expressive opening of the show, and Benjamin’s admiration for John Coltrane can be heard in every note of her instrument.
It is not for nothing that the saxophonist dedicates her 2020 album Pursuance: The Coltranes to the music of John and Alice Coltrane. But there is more to this New Yorker’s music than the common tributes in the jazz genre.
Somehow, current social events in the States seem to be reflected in Benjamin’s music, at least that is the author’s impression. Anger, strength, despair, tenderness, love, pride: you can hear all of that, and maybe even more. Yes, this music originally comes from the USA, you can feel it, it has its roots there and was not least born out of self-assertion, defiance, faith, and resistance of the black community.
The transgenerational transmission of trauma may also apply here, but in any case the musical legacy of the Coltranes, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Motown and Blue Note is passed on; of the jazz musicians who were only allowed to enter the venues through the delivery entrance.
But back to the Bix. What a brilliant combo! E.J. Strickland on the drum kit delivers incessantly pulsating beats and a gripping solo, bassist Elias Bailey plays the bass in a groovy and close to the wind, pianist Oscar Perez solos imaginatively and grippingly on the piano over a 5-bar vamp, occasionally switching to the keyboard.
The best conditions for the multifaceted and often limit-pushing playing of this very talented alto. The music of this fascinating quartet definitely has something of the mood of the 60s of the last century – the joy, the exuberant and free playing, the ecstasy and the almost endless energy and dynamics, and – who knows – also anger.
The piece Amerikkan Skin, for example, with its sometimes plaintive and searching lines, heralds this, but also refers to groundbreaking recordings from the time shortly before jazz became electrified.
The fact that Benjamin reflects on the situation in her home country is also evident in her humorous presentation (If these elections go wrong, I will marry one of you!).
But the audience has the musician, dressed entirely in gold, in the bag even without any marriage intentions. This performance left a strong, lasting impression on the author.
