LAKECIA BENJAMIN AND PHOENIX

BUSHNELL PARK / GREATER HARTFORD JAZZ FESTIVAL / JULY 19

Lakecia is an alto saxophonist who came up in funk and R&B—she played with the Ohio Players and Stevie Wonder before moving toward jazz—and Phoenix, her 2023 Blue Note recording, drew on Coltrane's spiritual period while pulling it through her own history. The Greater Hartford Jazz Festival presents her at Bushnell Park, an outdoor venue in downtown Hartford, as part of a multiday free festival. The GHJF consistently books artists at a level that would require a ticket price at most regional venues—this is one of the better free jazz programming operations in New England.