LAKECIA BENJAMIN & PHOENIX QUINTET / JAMES BRANDON LEWIS TRIO

This week on the San Francisco Jazz Festival edition of Fridays Live, we feature an incredible double-bill concert with two of the most exciting young jazz saxophonists. Fresh off her performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Lakecia Benjamin and her Pheonix quintet make their SFJAZZ debut. “A saxophonist who embodies and transcends tradition” (The New York Times), James Brandon Lewis, who comes from the jazz lineage of John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, performs with his stellar trio.

Two of the most exciting young saxophonists share this double bill, highlighting their newest projects.

ABOUT LAKECIA BENJAMIN
An exceptional artist who has earned accolades in the DownBeat Critics’ Poll and from the Jazz Journalists Association, saxophonist and composer Lakecia Benjamin brings a powerful approach fusing soul and hip-hop with a rock-solid foundation in the jazz tradition.

Mentored by Gary Bartz and Billy Harper, the Washington Heights native cut her teeth with an impressive roster of greats including NEA Jazz Masters Clark Terry and Reggie Workman, Gregory Porter, and Christian McBride, and released her soul-drenched debut Retox in 2012. Her 2020 follow-up Pursuance was dedicated to the work of John and Alice Coltrane, and her latest album, Phoenix, represents a quantum leap in her artistry — a blindingly ambitious mix of genres and settings produced by Terri Lyne Carrington and featuring guest appearances from Patrice Rushen and Dianne Reeves.

ABOUT JAMES BRANDON LEWIS
“A saxophonist who embodies and transcends tradition” (The New York Times), James Brandon Lewis has become, in just over a decade, one of the most celebrated young artists in jazz — a musician who has carved a niche for his singular mixture of gospel, blues, and R&B with the incendiary saxophone explorations of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, and Sonny Rollins.

The Buffalo-born Lewis spent his formative time working with Geri Allen, Wallace Roney, and Benny Golson before eventually landing at CalArts, where his studies with the late Charlie Haden and Wadada Leo Smith cemented his inclinations as a seeker.

Five superb albums led to Lewis’s 2020 career breakthrough The Jesup Wagon, and his latest AUM Fidelity release, 2023’s For Mahalia, With Love, reimagines songs associated with the late gospel icon Mahalia Jackson.