The Almighty (Division 81 Records)
Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few
Released April 26, 2024
DownBeat Four-and-a-Half-Star Review
All About Jazz Best Albums of 2024
New York Times Best Jazz Albums of 2024
Jazziz Critics’ Picks 2024
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About:
Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few return with a new musical journey, “The Almighty”. The first quartet offering since 2021’s Cosmic Transition.
Collier’s compositions and lyrics focus on using music to communicate deeper principles that are part of everyday.
Isaiah showcases these principles through sounds that evolve within the titles: Love, Compassion, & Perspective. These principles once taken fully in are arranged to deliver the message that there is a Divine energy connecting through us all and is seen within all things.
The album opens up with LOVE, featuring the legendary Chicago vocalist Dee Alexander channeling her energy to deliver the message of love to the human family. With lyrics written by Collier specific to Alexander’s qualities as a maternal figure to him and other musicians, the message remains strong within the music throughout the album. Searching deeper to share more sincerely through our interactions with others, is the albums objective. Collier & The Chosen Few showcase those Principle with Musicianship and an unyielding commitment to put their all into each breath of this episodic journey. The album features the legendary Saxophonist Ari Brown, who has mentored Isaiah for over a decade in their native Chicago. The conversation between student and master evolves on the song “Compassion”. Collier’s steps into the vocalist roll on the infectious, Perspective (Peace & Love) which serves as Collier’s acknowledgement of Pharoah Sanders for his musical contributions, that features percussive sounds that connect the ancestors of the diaspora. Throughout “The Almighty” the group explores elements heard on 2021’s Cosmic Transitions and 2022’s Beyond by I AM (Isaiah Collier and Michael Shekwoaga Ode), and streamline the sound with laser focus in this incarnation.
This sound resonate the most in “The Duality Suite” a Four part movement that focuses in on the balance of polar opposites forming together to bring balance and harness the grace of understanding from different perspectives, with the movements of: +(Plus), -(Minus), Divine Masculine, and Divine Feminine. The Suite sways between fiery and peaceful sounds all molded together like all the elements of nature.
The Suite leads into a new layer of orchestration with the title track “The Almighty”. Collier showcases his gifts on Saxophone as well as, conductor of a large ensemble known as, The Celestials. The sounds of nature are represented by with chimes and wind sounds, building up into a heart pounding overture. With Strings and brass joining Isaiah on this journey about resilience and dedication to reach divine levels with the Higher Source as the guiding light. The Almighty.
Track Listing:
1. Love featuring Dee Alexander 07:49
2. Compassion featuring Ari Brown 07:18
3. Perspective (Peace and Love) 07:00
4. Duality Suite (I. +, II. -, III. Divine Masculine, IV. Divine Feminine) 23:16
5. The Almighty featuring The Celestial’s 18:27
Personnel:
Isaiah Collier: sax, vocals, auxiliary percussion
Michael Shekwoaga Ode Drums
Julian Davis Reid: piano
Jeremiah Hunt: bass
The Celestials
Zara Zaharieva: violin
Edith Yokey: violin
Michelle Manson: viola
Mayshell Morris: flute
Fred Jackson: alto saxophone
Corey Wilkes: trumpet
Ryan Nyther: trumpet
Matthew Davis: trombone
Justin Dillard: piano
Micah Collier: bass
Vincent Davis: drums
Recorded May 9th 2023 Chicago IL at Soundmine Studio, by Sizwe Banzi Butler, except “The Almighty” recorded by Dennis Tousana
Album Engineer: Lee Farmer
Assistant Engineers: Julian Brown and Brian Eskeridge
Mix Engineer: Sean Owens
Additional Mixing: Lee Farmer
Photography by Sonny Daze & Chris Andrews
Executive Produced by Sonny Daze, Isaiah Collier & Maurice Montoya
Art Direction by Sonny Daze & Kamal Collins
Review:
Isaiah Collier is a multi-instrumentalist blazing out of Chicago. About to turn 26, Collier’s ascension into the upper-echelon jazz world is happening now. His 2021 release, Cosmic Transitions (Division 81), received a 5-star review in DownBeat. He was named Rising Star Tenor Saxophonist in last year’s DownBeat Critics Poll. Live shows with his band The Chosen Few, and other incarnations, simply astound. He grew up taking the best from the wide span of music available in Chicago, developing his skills through the Jazz Institute of Chicago and the Chicago High School for the Performing Arts as well as taking in the wisdom of members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He went on to study at the Brubeck Institute. He learned well and is now an artist in full bloom as evidenced on his latest recording, The Almighty (Division 81). There is so much to take in with this record. There’s a deep sense of the spirituality and fire of Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as evidenced on tunes like “Compassion” (featuring AACM legend Ari Brown, a mentor) and “Duality Suite (I. +, II. -, III. Divine Masculine, IV. Divine Feminine).” “Compassion” offers a calling of the spirits for the proceedings. It’s just lovely. “Duality Suite” fires off 23 minutes of hold-on-tight, high-tension energy that gives way to soulful contemplation. This single tune offers a full spectrum of the fantastic artistry Collier and company deliver. It’s exhilarating. “Love” is a beautiful medium-tempo tune that speaks to the subject in a complex, churning musical movement with beautiful vocals by vocalist Dee Alexander. “Perspective (Peace And Love)” offers another beautiful message with the repeated refrain of “peace and love” by Collier. The album culminates into another extended, and beautifully complex, composition, “The Almighty.” In addition to the members of his amazing group the Chosen Few — Michael Shekwoaga Ode on drums, Julian Davis Reid on piano and Jeremiah Hunt on bass — Collier adds a group he calls The Celestials consisting of strings, a horn section and an expanded rhythm section to reach shamanistic heights, calling out to The Almighty. It’s thrilling, reflective, spellbinding music that never loses its sense of groove. There’s no way listeners cannot feel the magnetism of Collier’s generous, glowing spirit.
Frank Alkyer (DownBeat)
