Lakecia Benjamin – We Dream

Description

‘We Dream’ is the new studio album by New York-based alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin. Conceived as a deeply band-driven project, her sixth album and Artwork Records debut centres on Benjamin’s frequent collaborators in pianists Oscar Pérez and Miki Hayama and bassist Elias Bailey – along with new associates in trumpeter Sean Jones and drummer Jonathan Barber – alongside an expansive cast of guest collaborators drawn from across jazz, R&B, hip-hop and experimental music.

When describing her collaborators, Benjamin emphasizes that they are not bound by genre, pointing instead to artists who have reshaped music through sound, presentation and the spaces in which it can exist.

‘We Dream’ arrives after a period of heightened visibility for Benjamin. After years working with artists including Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Prince, Missy Elliott, Anita Baker, Gregory Porter, Kool & the Gang and The Roots, she redefined her artistic direction with 2020’s ‘Pursuance: The Coltranes’, a guest-driven project honouring John and Alice Coltrane as parallel creative forces. Released during the Pandemic, the album marked a turning point – reconnecting Benjamin’s work to lineage, spirituality and personal responsibility during a moment of global pause.

She followed ‘Pursuance’ with ‘Phoenix’, recorded after surviving a near-fatal car accident. The album proved a breakthrough, earning multiple GRAMMY nominations – including Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, Best Instrumental Composition (‘Amerikkan Skin’) and Best Jazz Performance (‘Basquiat’) – and expanding both the scale and audience for her work.

‘Phoenix’’s sister album, ‘Phoenix Reimagined (Live)’ – announced on national TV by Stephen Colbert while she sat in with the Late Show Band – was nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Album and Best Jazz Performance. At the 2026 ceremony, Benjamin was nominated for Best Jazz Performance for the standalone single ‘Noble Rise’, featuring fellow alto saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins.

Across ‘We Dream’, Benjamin situates jazz within a broader cultural landscape, reflecting her growing presence at festivals where jazz shares the stage with DJs, reggae acts and genre-defying artists. But genre aside, it stands as a bold, intentional artistic statement – one that insists on forward motion, collective imagination and the power of sound to illuminate even the darkest spaces.