Lakecia Benjamin is an American jazz, funk, and R&B saxophonist.
Benjamin was born and raised in New York City. She grew up in a Dominican neighborhood in
Washington Heights, Manhattan
Washington Heights is a neighborhood in the uppermost part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is named for Fort Washington, a fortification constructed at the highest natural point on Manhattan by Continental Army troops to defen ...
and played
merengue,
salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
...
, and
Latin music
Latin music ( Portuguese and es, música latina) is a term used by the music industry as a catch-all category for various styles of music from Ibero-America (including Spain and Portugal) and the Latino United States inspired by Latin Amer ...
.
As a touring musician she has performed with
Missy Elliot
Melissa Arnette Elliott (born July 1, 1971), better known as Missy Elliott or Missy “Misdemeanor” Elliot, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer. She embarked on her music career with R&B girl group Sista in the earl ...
and
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...
.
She has performed on four continents, for President Barack Obama's 2009 Inauguration, and with
Clark Terry,
Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey.
Career
Early in his career, Workman wo ...
,
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali, born Robert Patterson (July 1, 1933 – August 12, 2009) was an American free jazz and avant-garde drummer best known for playing with John Coltrane in the last years of Coltrane's life.
Biography Early life
Patterson was born and ...
, the
David Murray Big Band,
Vanessa Rubin
Vanessa Rubin (born March 14, 1957) is an American jazz vocalist.
Biography
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, to parents from Trinidad and Louisiana, Rubin grew up in a musical household. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from Ohio S ...
, and
James Blood Ulmer
James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragg ...
. She started the band Soul Squad to showcase her compositions.
Early life
Benjamin was born and raised in Washington Heights, a neighborhood in New York City. In grade school, she studied
recorder. She attended Eleanor Roosevelt Junior High School in New York City. She has been writing songs and lyrics since the age of 13. She began playing the saxophone in elementary school. Later while attending
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts she became interested in jazz. After high school she attended
The New School
The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...
in New York City.
Her beginnings in music were Latin dance music. She played salsa and merengue.
Career
Saxophonist Gary Bartz was an early mentor who introduced her to training technical exercise techniques such as Hyacinthe Klosé’s 25 Daily Etudes. He introduced her to the music of jazz saxophonists
Charlie Parker
Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
,
John Coltrane
John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music.
Born and raise ...
, and
Jackie McLean
John Lenwood "Jackie" McLean (May 17, 1931 – March 31, 2006) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and educator, and is one of the few musicians to be elected to the ''DownBeat'' Hall of Fame in the year of their deat ...
. While at the New School University, she studied under Billy Harper,
Reggie Workman
Reginald "Reggie" Workman (born June 26, 1937 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American avant-garde jazz and hard bop double bassist, recognized for his work with both John Coltrane and Art Blakey.
Career
Early in his career, Workman wo ...
,
Buster Williams,
Joe Chambers
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
, and
Gary Bartz
Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards.
Biography
Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Wor ...
.
Benjamin's first job was with trumpeter
Clark Terry in a band that he started called Young Titans of Jazz.
She has performed with
Anita Baker
Anita Denise Baker (born January 26, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter. She is one of the most popular singers of soulful ballads, especially renowned for her work during the height of the quiet storm period in the 1980s. Starting her career ...
,
Count Basie Orchestra
The Count Basie Orchestra is a 16 to 18 piece big band, one of the most prominent jazz performing groups of the swing era, founded by Count Basie in 1935 and recording regularly from 1936. Despite a brief disbandment at the beginning of the 195 ...
,
Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
,
Blitz the Ambassador
Blitz, German for "lightning", may refer to:
Military uses
*Blitzkrieg, blitz campaign, or blitz, a type of military campaign
*The Blitz, the German aerial campaign against Britain in the Second World War
*, an Imperial German Navy light cruiser b ...
,
Joanne Brackeen
Joanne Brackeen (born Joanne Grogan; July 26, 1938) is an American jazz pianist and music educator.
Music career
Brackeen was born in Ventura, California, United States, and attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. She was a fan of pop pi ...
,
Keyshia Cole
Keyshia Myeshia Cole Johnson; born October 15, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. Born and raised in Oakland, California, Cole began her career as a backing vocalist for MC Hammer. After signing with A&M Records ...
,
Duke Ellington Orchestra
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was bas ...
,
Corte Ellis,
Kool & the Gang
Kool & the Gang is an American R&B/soul/funk band formed in Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1964 by brothers Robert "Kool" Bell and Ronald Bell, with Dennis "Dee Tee" Thomas, Robert "Spike" Mickens, Charles Smith, George Brown, and Ricky West. ...
,
Macy Gray
Natalie Renée McIntyre (born September 6, 1967), known by her stage name Macy Gray, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She is known for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday.
Gray ha ...
,
Jimmy Heath
James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.
Biography
Heath w ...
,
Vincent Herring
Vincent Dwayne Herring (born November 19, 1964) is an American jazz saxophonist, flautist, composer, and educator. Known for his fiery and soulful playing in the bands of Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, and Nat Adderley in the earlier stages of h ...
,
Bertha Hope, Ulysses Owens Jr.,
Charlie Persip,
The Roots,
Santigold
Santi White (born September 25, 1976), known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. '' Billboard'' presented her in 2022, saying: "Spanning punk rock, hip-hop, and dance music, S ...
,
Charles Tolliver,
Charenee Wade,
Stevie Wonder,
Gregory Porter
Gregory Porter (born November 4, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He has twice won the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album: first in 2014 for ''Liquid Spirit'' and then again in 2017 for '' Take Me to the Alley''.
Early l ...
and
Craig Robinson's Nasty Delicious Band.
Benjamin's band tours performing music from her debut album, ''Retox''. The album includes Krystle Warren,
Amp Fiddler
Joseph Anthony "Amp" Fiddler is an American singer, songwriter, keyboardist, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. His musical styles include funk, soul, dance and electronica music. He is probably best known for his contributions to the ba ...
,
Maya Azucena
Maya Azucena is an American singer-songwriter and cultural ambassador from Brooklyn, New York City. She attended the LaGuardia School of Performing Arts. She independently released her debut album ''Maya Who?!'' at performance shows and o ...
, Melanie Charles, ChinahBlac, and Mavis Swann Poole. The album was co-produced by Ben Kane.
Discography
As leader
* ''Retox'' (
Motéma, 2012)
* ''Rise Up'' (Ropeadope, 2018)
* ''Pursuance: The Coltranes'' (Ropeadope, 2020)
As guest
*
Georgia Anne Muldrow
Georgia Anne Muldrow (born 1983) is an American musician from Los Angeles, California. In 2008, she co-founded the SomeOthaShip Connect record label with fellow artist and former husband Dudley Perkins.
Life and career
Georgia Anne Muldrow grew ...
, ''
Mama, You Can Bet!'' (SomeOthaShip, 2020)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin, Lakecia
1982 births
Living people
African Americans in New York City
American jazz horn players
African-American saxophonists
American jazz saxophonists
Musicians from New York City
Jazz musicians from New York (state)
21st-century American saxophonists
Women jazz saxophonists
21st-century American women musicians
Motéma Music artists
Ropeadope Records artists
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
African-American women musicians
21st-century African-American women
21st-century African-American musicians
The Nasty Delicious members
Women horn players