On the heels of her acclaimed tribute to John and Alice Coltrane, 2020’s Pursuance: The Coltranes, alto saxophonist-composer Lakecia Benjamin delivers one other potent providing in Phoenix, her fourth album as a frontrunner and debut for the London-based Whirlwind Recordings. Produced by drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, Phoenix finds Benjamin pushing the envelope on her already expansive scope. Her pungent strains—tonally paying homage to Hank Crawford or Maceo Parker however with the harmonically subversive intent of Eric Dolphy—mix tightly on the frontline with trumpeter Josh Evans on tunes like “New Mornings,” the forcefully grooving title observe, the angular and Dolphy-esque midtempo swinger “Basquiat,” and the up-tempo burner “Moods.” Politically tinged tracks just like the edgy “Amerikkan Skin” (that includes recitation by activist Angela Davis) and “Peace Is a Haiku Song/Blast” (with iconic 88-year-old poet, civil rights activist and Black Arts Movement pioneer Sonia Sanchez) strongly mirror her personal private conscientious beliefs. The modal exercise “Trane” is a holdover from her earlier Coltrane tribute. And the stunning “Mercy,” underscored by E.J. Strickland’s mellow “Poinciana” beat and enhanced by string quartet, options the wonderful and soulful vocals and nimble scatting of visitor Dianne Reeves.

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