The 20th Anniversary DC JazzFest opens with a performance at the Embassy of Australia with Lakecia Benjamin, Phoenix, and James Morrison. (L-R) Benjamin is on alto saxophone, James Morrison is on fluegelhorn, and Elias Bailey is on bass. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)
The 20th Anniversary DC JazzFest opens with a performance at the Embassy of Australia with Lakecia Benjamin, Phoenix, and James Morrison. (L-R) Benjamin is on alto saxophone, James Morrison is on fluegelhorn, and Elias Bailey is on bass. (Robert R. Roberts/The Washington Informer)

What a way to experience an international flavor for this year’s DC JazzFest than with a hard-driving, straight-up jam session at the Australian Embassy in Northwest D.C. 

Alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin came to this year’s 20th Anniversary DC JazzFest riding high on the release of her latest album “Phoenix Reimagined.” Then there’s James Morrison, who performs primarily on trumpet and flugelhorn, and is an overachiever who also plays trombone, tuba, euphonium, saxophone, clarinet, double bass, guitar, and piano. 

Benjamin and Morrison admired each other’s music style from afar.  They wasted no time in kicking off their performance with full-speed energy.

Benjamin can play whatever is on her mind and in her soul. It can be upbeat, hard-driving jazz mixed with hip-hop, R&B, rock, or spoken word. Morrison had no problem matching Benjamin’s mood, vibe-to-vibe, which was surprising since this concert was their first in-person moment, meeting an hour before they were introduced to an overflow audience at the embassy. 

“We just played that feeling of improvisation that is actually happening now,” said Morrison. “We’re not regurgitating something we do all the time, and that feeling is magic. That’s what jazz is all about, right?”

Morrison got it right in describing the dynamic collaboration with Benjamin. The concert set the tone for the 20th Anniversary DC JazzFest.

Brenda Siler is an award-winning journalist and public relations strategist. Her communications career began in college as an advertising copywriter, a news reporter, public affairs producer/host and a...

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