Artwork Records

We Dream is the new studio album by New York–based alto saxophonist, composer, and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin. Conceived as a deeply band-driven project, her sixth album and Artwork Records debut centers on Benjamin’s frequent collaborators in pianists Oscar Pérez and Miki Hayama and bassist Elias Bailey — along with new associates in trumpeter Sean Jones, and drummer Jonathan Barber — alongside an expansive cast of guest collaborators drawn from across jazz, R&B, hip-hop, and experimental music. We Dream reflects what Benjamin describes as a shift in perspective — a response to the present moment and the world around her. “I started thinking about the idea of being a bright light in a dark space. Things feel really dark right now — everywhere — and we’re trying to be that light.” Rather than assembling guests for ornamentation, Benjamin approached the project as a collective statement, bringing together artists she admires for their capacity to evolve, innovate, and reshape musical language.

The jazz trio, especially the chordless jazz trio, has long been a genre staple, and has historically provided a vehicle for the boldest of musicians to venture forth and explore new territory. New Jazz Underground (“NJU”), a viral internet sensation of a trio comprising saxophonist/vocalist Abdias Armenteros, bassist Sebastian Rios, and drummer T.J. Reddick has been lauded for this very thing. Described by NPR Music as “classy and classic,” NJU are a group of musicians who “clearly know the jazz tradition but push at the corners of hard bop and hip-hop.” (NPR, 2024). Assembled during the COVID-19 pandemic to perform in open-air spaces as a way to cope and survive, the trio quickly became a powerhouse of three unified minds whose history-crossing sensibilities took the hearts and minds of their listeners, both in-person and across the internet, by storm. Now, after having performed, as the band poignantly states, “from the streets all the way to the stage of Newport Jazz Festival” in the span of only a few years, NJU releases “Hoodies” on May 29, an homage to brotherhood, culture, and identity.