(Reprinted from the March 2023 issue of The New York City Jazz Record)

In 2021, saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin was in a car accident that left her with multiple fractures, including a broken jaw. She had just started touring her tribute to the Coltranes, Pursuance: The Coltranes (Ropeadope), and playing was extremely painful. In working through an extensive recovery, however, Benjamin found the source material for her newest release, Phoenix (Whirlwind). On the album’s 11 tracks, almost all of them originals, Benjamin successfully pits resilience against adversity. She also makes her first credited appearance as a singer on a record.

 To be clear, Benjamin’s primary contributions to the album are as a killer player, composer, arranger, and producer. But her varied use of vocals throughout the record speaks to her insightful understanding of the voice as a compositional element. On the title cut, for instance, a synth-enhanced vocal dreamscape (with lead singer Georgia Anne Muldrow) shadows the track’s layered horn motif. Dianne Reeves finesses Benjamin’s shifting melody line on “Mercy”.  And three leaders in cultural transformation drive home Benjamin’s messages about justice and peace through spoken word: poet Sonia Sanchez, with bass-only accompaniment on “Peace is A Haiku Song”, then with the full horn-led band on “Blast”; author Angela Davis, on the siren-punctuated “Amerikkan Skin”; and jazz artist Wayne Shorter on “Supernova”, an electronica-laced ballad. Through these vocal performances Benjamin gives language to her authoritative playing—a reversal of the usual role, where singers seek to emulate the horn. Harlem Stage, in cooperation with Carnegie Hall, will sponsor the album’s official release concert on Mar 11th.  

 When Libby York decided to become a jazz singer, she moved to New York City and studied with singer/activist Abbey Lincoln. Today, many years into her career, you can hear how York emulates her mentor on Dreamland (Origin Records), her fifth album as a leader and producer. Both singers share a gift for impactful cool phrasing—as on Lincoln’s seminal jazz ballad, “Throw It Away”. In York’s rendering, the singer’s clear, assertive vocals serve the tune’s declaration of emotional fortitude. But her instrument can conjure many moods: breathless seduction on “Hit the Road to Dreamland”, quiet nostalgia on “When October Goes”, restrained exuberance on “It’s Love”. In other moments on the record, York polishes off some dustier standards, like Rodgers and Hart’s “Mountain Greenery” and Schwarz and Dietz’s “Rhode Island Is Famous For You”—tunes that shine under York’s attention. York will present the new album at Mezzrow on Mar 12th.

 Rhode Island native Carol Sloane, born this month in 1937, enjoyed rising-star fame as a jazz singer in the 1960s before the popularity of rock music forced jazz (and Sloane’s career) into the niche bins. Even so, Sloane continued to tour and record, turning out almost 30 albums as a leader over the next five decades. She passed away in January, soon after finishing up the filming for Sloane: A Jazz Singer, by director Michael Lippert. In making the film—a documentary about Sloan’s largely unheralded contributions to vocal jazz—Lippert follows Sloane as she prepares for her final concert at Birdland in 2019. This gig, which gave us last year’s Live At Birdland (Club44), also chronicles the end of her decades-long creative collaboration with another Rhode Island native, pianist Mike Renzi, who died in 2021. Their warm comradery lights up the film, which respectfully documents the thrilling highs and poignant lows of a jazz life well-lived. The film releases this month, with NYC viewing dates pending.

 JALC has tapped singer Alexis Cole to represent on International Women’s Day, in remembrance of women’s suffrage globally. In keeping with this year’s theme—Embrace Equity—Cole will sing classic and contemporary tunes by women composers at Dizzy’s on Mar 8th. Many of these tunes come from New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers, a 2022 compilation edited by tour-de-force jazz artist Terri Lyne Carrington. Pianist Arcoiris Sandoval and drummer Allison Miller, both of whom contributed to the compilation, will join bassist Brandi Disterheft in backing Cole that evening. Later in the month, Cole kicks off her release tour for Both Sides of Joni, her new collection of jazz-interpreted Mitchell tunes.

 More powerhouses: Brazilian guitarist/singer Rosa Passos shares the stage with pianist Kenny Barron and bassist Ron Carter at JALC Mar 24th-25th. Sheila Jordan returns to Blue Note on Mar 26th. And Arts for Art remembers pianist/activist Connie Crothers at Williamsburg’s Shift performance space on Mar 3rd.