| Jazz |
Summary: In We Dream, Lakecia Benjamin transforms the anxieties and hopes of the present moment into a powerful work of contemporary jazz. Featuring an all-star cast of collaborators, the album blends ambition, spirituality, and musical innovation into one of the most compelling releases of the year.
Lakecia Benjamin’s We Dream: A Bold and Visionary Jazz Statement for Our Time
I remember a scene from the documentary Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity, directed by Dorsay Alavi, in which Lakecia Benjamin visits Wayne Shorter, who was both mentor and friend. What struck me at the time was how natural it all seemed: two towering artists exchanging ideas, admiring one another, and speaking about their craft with generosity and genuine curiosity. It is a rare and beautiful thing to witness.
Benjamin also possesses a welcome sense of humor. Onstage, she often appears in outfits that could belong to a funk superstar, an impression that vanishes almost immediately once she begins to play. The focus shifts at once to the force of her musicianship, the precision of her technique, and the remarkable quality of her compositions.
So when I found myself looking at the album cover resting on my desk, I smiled. It was early morning. The sky was gray, the air heavy. Then came the opening notes of “First Light.” Benjamin’s voice enters with quiet authority before a trumpet emerges, demonstrating a masterful command of dramatic tension. The introduction is theatrical, ambitious, and completely convincing. There is magic in the words and magic in the sound.
It is no coincidence that the Shorter documentary came back to mind. The music is different, certainly, but the intensity is remarkably similar. As the album unfolds, one senses an artist continuing to shed limitations and expectations. With each project, Benjamin seems to grow larger in artistic scope, more assured in her vision, and more impressive in her ability to translate that vision into sound.
Speaking about her new project, We Dream, Benjamin explained: “As always, you’ll hear my personal touch when it comes to guests,” she said. “But this time, the goal is different.”
Following the acclaimed Phoenix and the Grammy-nominated single Noble Rise, We Dream reflects what Benjamin describes as a shift in perspective, a response to the present moment and the world around her.
“I felt that story couldn’t continue in the same way given the state of the world,” she said. “I started thinking about the idea of being a bright light in the darkness. The atmosphere right now feels very dark, everywhere, and we are trying to embody that light.”
Like the finest artists, Benjamin remains deeply attentive to the world around her. She listens to the present moment, reflects upon it, and translates those reflections into music. Notes become brushstrokes across a canvas. Words appear alongside them. Around her she gathers artists from vastly different backgrounds and musical languages, all helping to articulate what she sees and feels.
The music on We Dream is both beautiful and complex, and the cast assembled here is extraordinary. Rather than inviting guests simply for decoration, Benjamin approaches the project as a collective statement, bringing together musicians she admires for their willingness to evolve, innovate, and reshape the language of contemporary music.
Her self-described “Avengers” lineup includes trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah, saxophonist Chris Potter, drummer Jeff Tain Watts, and pianist Hiromi Uehara. Vocalists Bilal and Tarriona Tank Ball of Tank and the Bangas also contribute, alongside drummer and producer Kassa Overall.
What more can be said? This is an extraordinary album, one that takes me back not to the sound of Weather Report, but to the feeling I had hearing that group for the first time. The music itself is different, yet the sensation is strikingly familiar: the realization that you are in the presence of work operating at the highest level of artistic ambition.
To compose on this scale requires more than technical mastery or broad cultural knowledge. It demands intellectual confidence, imagination, and a willingness to take risks. We Dream arrives after a period of increasing visibility for Benjamin. Having spent years performing and recording with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, Prince, Missy Elliott, Anita Baker, Gregory Porter, Kool & the Gang and The Roots, she redefined her artistic direction with Pursuance: The Coltranes in 2020.
That collaboration-rich project honored both John Coltrane and Alice Coltrane as parallel creative forces. Released during the pandemic, it marked a turning point, reconnecting Benjamin’s work to questions of lineage, spirituality, and personal responsibility at a moment when much of the world had been forced into reflection.
We Dream is a journey, a statement, a breath of creative possibility. It is a work that transcends cultural boundaries and refuses indifference. Few contemporary jazz recordings manage to be simultaneously inspired, intelligent, poetic, dramatic, and musically adventurous. This one does.
It is difficult to predict the future of any album. Yet We Dream possesses the qualities that define enduring works: vision, depth, emotional power, and an unmistakable sense of purpose. It feels destined to become one of the landmark recordings of its era, a record people will still be discussing years from now because it captures something larger than itself, transforming the anxieties and hopes of the present moment into art of lasting significance.
Thierry De Clemensat
Member at Jazz Journalists Association
USA correspondent for Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief – Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, June 9th, 2026
Follow PARIS-MOVE on X
::::::::::::::::::::::::
Musicians:
- Lakecia Benjamin: Alto saxophone
- Oscar Pérez: Piano
- Miki Hayama: Piano
- Elias Bailey: Acoustic bass
- Jonathan Barber: Drums
Guests
- Terence Blanchard: Trumpet
- Sean Jones: Trumpet
- Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott): Trumpet
- Chris Potter: Tenor saxophone
- Hiromi: Piano
- Jeff “Tain” Watts: Drums
- Tarriona “Tank” Ball: Spoken word and vocals (Frontwoman of Tank and the Bangas)
- Bilal: Vocals
- Kassa Overall: Vocals and co-production
Track Listing :
First Light
Beyond the Dawn (ft. Terence Blanchard)
My Only (ft. Sean Jones)
Mi Gente (ft. Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah)
Ascension
DreamBreaker (ft. Chris Potter, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Sean Jones)
We Dream (ft. Tarriona “Tank” Ball)
Flamekeeper (ft. Hiromi)
Hiromi Jam (ft. Hiromi)
Right Now (ft. Bilal and Kassa Overall)
New World
Tour dates:
06/13 – Sceaux, FR – Sceaux Jazz Festival
06/14 – Vienna, AT – Porgy & Bess
06/17 – London, UK – Ronnie Scott’s
06/18 – Warsaw, PL – Jassmine
06/19 – Middleburg, NL – Zeeland Jazz Festival
06/20 – Rotterdam, NL – LantarenVenster
06/28 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Jazz Festival
07/02 – Gent, BE – Gent Jazz Festival
07/03 – Vitrolles, FR – Charlie Jazz Festival
07/05 – Vilafranca del Penedès, ES – Vijazz
07/07 – Vienne, FR – Jazz À Vienne
07/12 – Matosinhos, PT – Matosinhos Em Jazz
07/19 – Hartford, CT – Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz
08/09 – San Jose, CA – San Jose Jazz Summer Fest
09/05 – Charleston, SC – Low Country Jazz Festival
09/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Hollywood Bowl
10/03 – Germantown, TN – Highland Capital Performance Hall
10/08 – Rodilhan, FR – Nimes Metropole Jazz Festival
10/09 – Marciac, FR – l’Astrada
10/15 – Tourcoing, FR – Tourcoing Jazz Festival
10/22 – Philadelphia, PA – Ensemble Arts Philly
10/23 – New York, NY – Carnegie Hall – Zankel Hall
10/24 – Richmond, VA – University of Richmond
11/09 – Bydgoszcz, PL – Bydgoszcz Jazz Festival
11/12 – Trutnov, CZ – Festival Jazzinec Trutnov
11/14 – Groningen, NL – Rockit Festival
11/15 – Amsterdam, NL – Muziekgebouw
11/17 – Leverkusen, DE – Leverkusener Jazztage
11/20 – Zurich, CH – Moods
11/21 – Schaan, LI – TAK Theater Liechtenstein
11/22 – Munich, DE – Bergson Kunstkraftwerk