Today we continue Cultural Attaché’s Icons 2025 with jazz composer/musician Lakecia Benjamin. The critical acclaim for her 2023 album Phoenix and its 2024 follow-up, Phoenix Reimagined, led her to major slots at both the San Francisco Jazz Festival and the Blue Note Jazz Festival (formerly the Hollywood Bowl Jazz Festival and Playboy Jazz Festival).
Phoenix received there Grammy nominations. Phoenix Reimagined received two. After our conversation, Benjamin received another nomination this year for her single Noble Rise for Bets Jazz Performance. Clearly her star is rising and rising fast.
Pretty heady times for Benjamin. It’s a time where she’s asking a lot of questions about herself, her music and about us. Her questions and some of her answers to her own questions reveal an artist who is growing and searching for the next chapter in her life and career. Our interview took place on June 9th. This video was posted on June 12th.
To read the print version of this interview, which also features two videos of Benjamin performing, please go HERE.
Photo: Lakecia Benjamin in the Cultural Attaché Interview.