New York City altoist Lakecia Benjamin has assembled an intergenerational all-star cast for this tribute to Alice and John Coltrane, featuring arrangements of many of their best-known compositions. Some of Benjamin’s interpretations are fairly classic in approach. ‘Liberia’ opens with a billowing introduction (a feature of North Indian music called an alap that John Coltrane made his own) and swings hard into a feature for Gary Bartz, while ‘Prema’ is mellow and trance-like with waves of piano and delicate harp tracery.

Other tracks have a more contemporary slant. ‘Central Park West’ has a breezy R&B flavour, and ‘Om Shanti’ gets a funk refit with Georgia Anne Muldrow on vocals and Meshell Ndegeocello supplying the bass. ‘Walk With Me’, a sorrowful violin feature for Regina Carter, is one of the highlights. As is ‘Alabama’, where Benjamin is alone with her rhythm section, pouring her heart out. Her alto sound is one of the first things that grabs you about the album. It’s rich, soulful and drenched in the blues. She plays with such passion and such commitment you know she means every note, and it’s hard to think of a more fitting tribute to the Coltranes than that.