Having enthused over Benjamin’s Pursuance: The Coltranes (2020) and Phoenix (2023) I’m happy to report that this latest album does nothing to dampen that enthusiasm. The basic quartet retains only Ed Strickland from the 2023 album but as then distinguished guests are added here and there, and several of the tracks rework tunes from that.
There are inevitably strong echoes of Coltrane, not least when Benjamin manages to make the alto sound like a soprano, but these are only part of what she does and they mix with elements of classic bop and, in the vocals, rap. Benjamin is very much her own woman and has much to say, not least in the declamations featured on some tracks, including Peace Is Possible. Let us hope so.
Her tone and phrasing are crisp and sharp, taking good care of bustling business on the faster numbers and injecting a sense of urgency and soul even on relatively relaxed tracks like Mercy. The band in each of its variants works effectively and there is particularly good work by Curtis.
The session was recorded “as live” in the studio and certainly has a powerful sense of immediacy. I concluded a review of Phoenix by opining that, although Benjamin had made an album that would be hard to surpass, she would probably manage that. She’s certainly equalled it.
Discography
Intro; (1) Trane; (2) Phoenix Reimagined; (3) Let Go; (4) Mercy; (1) Amerikkan Skin (intro); Amerikkan Skin; Peace Is Possible; New Mornings; My Favourite Things; Spirit The Bunker (47.45)
(1) Benjamin (as, v); Zaccai Curtis (p); Elias Bailey (b); EJ Strickland (d).
(2) add John Scofield (g); Randy Brecker (t). Jeff “Tain” Watts (d) replaces Strickland.
(3) Benjamin (as); Melodie Ray (v); Kat Dyson (g); Ray Angry (p); Richie Goods (b); possibly Strickland (d).
(4) as (3) but Dyson and Angry out. Possibly Curtis (p).
The Bunker, Brooklyn, 2 March 2024.
Ropeadope RAD 750
