Lakecia Benjamin

Lakecia Benjamin is an alto saxophonist and bandleader who joins the fire of the Coltrane lineage to the funk and R&B she came up playing. Raised in the Washington Heights section of Manhattan, she went to LaGuardia High School and then The New School, where her teachers included Gary Bartz, Reggie Workman, Buster Williams and Billy Harper. Before leading her own groups she worked in the horn sections of Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys and The Roots, and her first albums as a leader, Retox and Rise Up (2018), kept that soul and funk footing. Pursuance: The Coltranes (2020) turned her toward the music of John and Alice Coltrane, and Phoenix (2023) drew three Grammy nominations, with two more following for Phoenix Reimagined (Live) in 2024. She was voted Rising Star Alto Saxophonist in the 2020 DownBeat Critics Poll, and released We Dream in 2026.