There is an old statement about love and first sight and love the second time around. But I have learned from a wise one that “sight is not vision” and that sound reaches the heart – whether it is the spoken voice, but especially music. This is probably a recent experience for those of you who saw the movie Sinners and listened to those Blues. But it’s a common experience when mother’s first hears her newborn scream or murmur – seconds or minutes after into this World. But in the world of Jazz, there are people who move you like Miles Davis, Marcus Miller, Joshua Redman, Christian McBride (Philly born), Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, and of course the great Billie Holiday (Philly born).
But for me, there are two people, that invoke a spiritual eruption every time that I listen to them: John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane. Now there is another: Lakecia Benjamin. When I first heard her, she came to Philly at the University of Penn and played the music of John Coltrane in 2022. When I heard her blow the alto sax, it was “love at first sound.” I had not heard that sound since listening to John Coltrane CDs which also was “love at first sound.” Giant Steps, A Love Supreme (a song to wake up to every day for understanding your purpose), Living Space, Ballads, Transition, Live at the Village Vanguard (I love the song India), and of course the Coltrane sound on songs like “After the Rain”, “Alabama” “Kind of Blue” and so many others to wake your soul.
Later, listen to Alice Coltrane. Love at first sound strikes again. The songs in Journey in Satchidananda take you on a spiritual journey. When her last song “Isis and Osiris” ends my thoughts are always …No this can’t end. There is another song of Alice Coltrane that I love – “Turiya & Ramakrishna” which has a feeling of soft love throughout it. I was also lucky to hear Ravi Coltrane – the offspring of the giants and see their essence in living flesh, even though I had never seen John and Alice Coltrane perform. While I didn’t get to meet her at Penn, I did read her interview. Sadly, she was at Penn State in February and I never knew.
So back to Lakecia, after the first Penn concert, I purchased Pursuane: The Coltranes
This jawn is bad!! Listening to “Spiral” takes me back to John Coltrane’s Giant Steps and she has “Turiya & Ramakrishna” on that CD. My favorite is Central Park West.
Then my sister told me last year, Lakecia, is coming back to Penn in Philly to perform her new album, which I had already purchased been listening to “Phoenix Reimagined) because I heard her one day on Sirius XM – San Francisco Jazz Live and was wowed.
I joined my sister, and I could not believe that the auditorium was not full to capacity, but all the betta for us. Then she started with Trane – Bam!! “Love At Second Sound Strikes!!” The level of energy that she brought was out of this world, given that she had just returned from a 40-day tour in Europe. She said that she didn’t know what time it was because of jet lag. Before she played “My favorite things,” she told the front row to buckle in, cause it was going to be a ride. That was an understatement as she went so far, in only the way that John Coltrane could do, using all of her “life force,” to raise us to another level of consciousness. Throughout the show, her personality really spoke to us (she got jokes, yo).
Then, in a dramatic twist, she talked about the title of her CD “Phoenix Reimagined.” The story took us on her journey of driving back from a concert, and then getting in a terrible accident on the road. How a stranger pulled her from the vehicle and helped her to hold on to life while an ambulance, 30 minutes away, came to help her. She talked about waking up on the operating table with the understanding that she had internal bleeding of the brain, and they had to operate to save her life. Later, she was told about the broken bones in her body, including a broken jaw. The doctor told her that he was not sure that she would be able to play the alto sax again. This work received 5 Grammy nominations.
But God and the ancestors told her it’s not time for you to leave or to stop reaching the people’s hearts with your music. Alice and John Coltrane had her back on that highway, and their love kept her on the physical plane.
When she told that story, the love, respect, and gratitude deepened because I realized that we were watching a spiritual being in a physical body, whose purpose was being manifested with every sound and every word. Of course, I enjoyed the music and she played and sang my two favorites – Peace is Possible and Central Park West.
I know that she was exhausted, and still came out to speak to the audience and then sign CDs.
You know, life is so connected, and yet just a stitch in time to make a deep and meaningful connection, even if it is for 2 hours.
So while this blog ends, the moments of that evening will linger in my heart for many years to come. Love struck twice with Lakecia and based on her discussion about her next work, it should strike a third time. May God and the ancestors continue to bless Lakecia, aka Phoenix, aka Maat, aka the Beautyful one.
Phoenix … you my Boo for life and also the next life.
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the women who manifest and care for the living.
