Saturday, November 26, 2022

Isaiah Collier (b. 1998): Outstanding, versatile, and innovative musician, composer, arranger, conductor, ensemble leader, producer, and teacher

 

SOUND PROJECTIONS



AN ONLINE QUARTERLY MUSIC MAGAZINE

 


EDITOR:  KOFI NATAMBU

 


FALL,  2022




VOLUME TWELVE  NUMBER TWO

 
TERENCE BLANCHARD


 Featuring the Musics and Aesthetic Visions of:

ISAIAH COLLIER

(November 26-December 2)

 

SAVANNAH HARRIS

(December 3-9)

 

MIKE KING

(December 10-16)

 

JOSH EVANS

(December 17-23)

 

ORRIN EVANS

December 24-30)

 

NASHEET WAITS

(December 31-January 6)

 

MARCUS SHELBY

(January 7-13)

https://www.chicagojazzmagazine.com/post/saxophonist-isaiah-collier

The Future Is Now: Isaiah Collier

by Monica Staton

April 10, 2019

Chicago Jazz Magazine

Twenty-year-old Isaiah Collier is a musical virtuoso in the truest sense of the phrase he began playing saxophone at age 11, and his intuitive proficiency earned him attention early on.

One of his first music teachers was Salvation Army Englewood minister and captain, Julian Champion. It was Champion’s mission to put instruments in the hands of children from Southside communities. “Champion created a jazz band specially for me,” says Collier.

One of his earlier performances with the Salvation Army band featured saxophonist Al Smith as a guest artist. “We played “A Night in Tunisia.” I was nervous,” Collier recalls. It was his first time playing outside of Chicago, in St. Louis. “Al played a flawless solo, in the spirit of Bird.” Collier followed. “When it got to me, my mind went blank. I don’t remember what I played, but the response was overwhelming. A lot of things changed after.” 

Isaiah Collier comes from a talented family. Both his parents sing and play instruments as well. “Music was always there,” he says. He first sang in the church choir, and was playing piano and flute, when his older brother initially introduced him to the saxophone.

I first heard Collier play the California Clipper with the band Die Stadtmusikanten. There’s a regal, elegant manner to his stage presence: he’s over 6 ft. tall, thin, deep brown, with high cheekbones.  When not playing, he is patiently waiting—not contemplating his next move, but listening to the musicians that accompany him, listening to their stories. The patience he has for other musicians is also applied to his own solos—sometimes creating longer, elaborate solos, always with a greater context in mind. “I’m just into composition,” says Collier. He explained he’s never really hearing himself, he’s hearing other people: some people have fire, others have air. “That’s how I hear, there has to be a balance.”

His sound is a dynamic flurry of metaphors, yet he can hold back when necessary. His playing is often described as mature yet youthful. “I think people see youth and hear maturity,” is Collier’s response to that description. He reminds me that Miles Davis was 19 when he was on the road with Charlie Parker. 

He plays his influences, which he describes as a “sonic time machine; you can’t really put a time or destination on it.” In terms of where he plans to take his music, Collier says, “I reach backwards and I reach forwards simultaneously when creating art and what is ahead of me is the past.”

Collier’s persona on stage differed from his persona when he sat down with me to discuss his craft and upcoming projects. Collier acknowledges Chicago defines his music. He attended high school at ChiArts, which was located in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood at the time. After, he attended the Brubeck Institute in Stockton, CA for two years.

Collier didn’t realize Chicago’s vast influence on music until he started traveling to New York, the West Coast, and the southern states. He learned those regions have a lot of Chicago influences, and that the South’s music culture is deeply ingrained in Chicago’s. He points to artists like pianist Lennie Tristano and alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, both born and raised in Chicago who later moved to the West Coast, as major influencers of the “non-swinging school of jazz music—that sound has its origins in Chicago,” says Collier.

Other Chicago artists that mentor and influence Collier are pianist Robert Irving III, saxophonist James Perkins, saxophonist Ari Brown, and pianist John Wright, who “recommended I learn the jazz language and develop more of an understanding of the jazz vernacular.” Collier says his mentors offer perspective in opening his views compositionally and harmonically. He doesn’t take critiques from these great artists as criticism. “If you take it personally, you don’t value what they are saying. Not everyone is going to offer advice, they have to feel it,” says Collier.

Collier’s used his latest recording with his band, the Chosen Few, as a platform to feature a few of Chicago’s hidden talents. Return of the Black Emperor was recorded primarily at the Frontier, a live space in Rogers Park. On piano is Evan Swanson (3 tracks) and William Kurk, Caesar Martinez on guitar, James Wenzel on bass and his brother, Jeremiah Collier, on drums. Many of the harmonies on this recording are reminiscent of Coltrane tunes, and Collier takes the freedom to unload his virtuosic saxophone skills.

Collier will release Collier Plays the Blues this summer. It will include all original compositions. A second recording of all original compositions, Welcome to Hyde Park, will also be released this summer. “It’s an interesting way of sonically describing what Hyde Park is,” says Collier. It will pay homage to Hyde Park landmarks. A few of the songs are titled “Hyde Park Records,” “Frontline,” and “DuSable”—which honors Dr. Carol Adams.

Visit Isaiah Collier's Facebook page for more information

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_Collier

Isaiah Collier

American jazz musician (tenor saxophone)

Isaiah Collier ( born 1998 ) is an American jazz musician ( tenor saxophone , composition , also piano , drums ) who is active in the Chicago jazz scene. [1]

Collier grew up in a musical family; he first sang in the church choir and first played the piano and flute before his older brother introduced him to the saxophone. He started playing the saxophone at the age of eleven. One of his first music teachers was a Salvation Army preacher in Englewood, who started a jazz band especially for him. He attended Chicago Arts High School in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. He then studied for two years at the Brubeck Institute in Stockton, California. Chicago artists who mentored and influenced Collier include pianist Robert Irving III and John Wright , and saxophonists James Perkins and Ari Brown. [1]

Collier then gained his first performance experience in the band Die Stadtmusikanten [sic], before he played in Ernest Dawkins ' Young Masters Quartet from the mid-2010s , with whom he made his first recordings. [2] With his own band Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few , he released his debut album Return of the Black Emperor in 2019 . He can also be heard (also as a drummer) on the album LIVE by Angel Bat Dawid & Tha Brothahood, which was produced at JazzFest Berlin in 2019 . With his band The Chosen Few he released the album Cosmic Transitions in 2020(Division 81), which he recorded with pianist Mike King, bassist Jeremiah Hunt and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode. The music on the album, written on September 23, 2020, the date of birth of John Coltrane , is hardcore spiritual jazz , in the spirit of Coltrane's 1965/66 work and later Pharoah Sanders records , according to Phil Freeman. [3] Among his main influences, Collier counts the jazz tradition of the American South, but also of Chicago.

Discographic notesTo edit

  • Ernest Dawkins: Coming of Age: Live the Spirit Residency Presents the Young Masters (2016)
  • Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Return of the Black Emperor (Good Vibes Only, 2019), starring Cesar Martinez, James Wenzel, Jeremiah Collier, William Kurk [4]
  • Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few: Cosmic Transitions (Division 81, 2020)
  • The Kahil El'Zabar Quartet: A Time for Healing (2021)
  • I AM: Beyond (2022), with Michael Shekwoaga Ode

web links 

To edit

https://southsideweekly.com/sonic-chemistry-saxophonist-isaiah-collier/

South Side Weekly

Chicago Local News

Music

The Sonic Chemistry of Isaiah Collier

Isaiah Collier.  Painting by Siena Fite

We have so many millennia of information recorded in our frickin’ DNA, and all it takes is the right time and place to trigger it,” says saxophonist Isaiah Collier. “Something like that happens for me sonically.”

At twenty, Collier has already shared a stage with Chance the Rapper and appeared at jazz festivals across the world. These accolades make his disarming charm and unassuming composure all the more striking. I sat down with him a few weeks ago to discuss his musical philosophy over a plate of sushi. Under the looping choruses of Top 40 hits, we talked about everything from genetics to folk music.

Collier’s roots in the Chicago jazz scene run deep. A Park Manor resident and a graduate of the Jazz Institute of Chicago, he recently returned to his hometown after spending a few years at the Brubeck Institute in Stockton, California. Mentorship by local giants like Willie Pickens and James Perkins Jr. has given way to performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and, most recently, with his own band, The Chosen Few.

But Collier’s introduction to the world of jazz had a decidedly humbler tone. Less than a decade ago, a flyer for a music camp caught in a Chicago breeze landed fortuitously in his mother’s face, giving him his first shot at the saxophone. Years went by and his passion grew. His father, a keyboardist and singer, would bring a twelve-year-old Collier to play along at gigs. “And I was like, ‘Oh crap! I made twenty bucks doing that!’ But it really put some perspective on it,” Collier said. He remembers thinking, “Wait, I can actually make some money doing this?” Soon, Collier would be playing for his local church, reviving the classic R&B tunes he heard as a child for new audiences.

Collier discovered the philosophy behind jazz from an unlikely source. “I was hanging out with one of my dad’s friends who was trying to help me improvise, and he told me, “Learn how to play ‘Happy Birthday!’” Collier exclaimed, “Anyone can play a song, but it doesn’t speak, have meaning… It’s all about making it yours. If everyone is saying the same thing, then you’ve got a problem.”

From there, his musical career grew, taking him to jazz festivals from Hyde Park to California. It culminated in the formation of his band, Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few.  In 2017, the group independently released its first album, Return of the Black Emperor. The haunting ballad “I Am Who I Be” lines up next to the seismic bursts of “War Song” and the evocative wails of “Mali,” each displaying Collier’s versatile style. But it is the title song, “Return of the Black Emperor,” that demonstrates the heart of Collier’s approach to his craft.

On one level, the listener hears an assured conversation with the legends of saxophone as he channels the creative force of John Coltrane and Wayne Shorter. But Collier doesn’t aim to mimic these giants of the genre. “It’s a dialect I understand,” he commented, “Like, when I think about Charlie Parker and all these cats, I’m not thinking about sounding like them: it’s a style. You’ve gotta be vulnerable enough to put yourself out there.” Instead, he injects his interests—from Mayan folk music to flamenco—into the picture.

As he describes it, music, like déjà vu, activates something buried in his subconscious. “I think it really just comes down to a genetic thing. Part of you has been somewhere that made this kind of music.” Collier is fascinated by how genetics, history, and music might operate in tandem. Jazz, like hip-hop, relies on excavating the rhythms and chords latent in our cultures and retrofitting them to speak to present concerns. “It’s weird,” he pondered, “it’s like we’re reaching backward and forward at the same time.”

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In an era when opportunities for young artists are shrinking as clubs shut their doors, school arts budgets are cut, and record companies pursue algorithmically-crafted pop progressions for the mass market, Collier is trying his hand at preserving accessible jazz education for kids.

He’s conducted master classes at Chicago High School for the Arts and at several schools on the South Side, and has been involved with the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) of Chicago. “It’s in [kids’] blood; they don’t know unless they try,” Collier said. “And there are so many different versions of themselves, but they need to have an example.”

In his eyes, the perpetual struggle of the Black community in America has motivated near-continuous bursts of artistic innovation that have snowballed over time. Jazz embodies that legacy. “If you wanna talk about jazz, we gotta start further than that, with gospel, and if you wanna talk about that, then we gotta start with the blues, and for that, we’ve gotta talk about ragtime, and the Negro spirituals. It’s like we’re telling [all those stories] at once,” Collier told me with a smile. “It’s the message of the ancestors, man.”

And those ancestors speak loud and clear in every chord, blues progression, and vocal harmony. “We have to stress the history. I try to make sure that the children know that. I’m telling you to know your history. Because that’s what makes jazz so unique. It’s tailor-made for everybody who plays it. Any of us can come from different perspectives on it, and that’s what makes it so infinite.”

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As we spoke, Collier reflected on how one of his mentors, James Perkins Jr., once inquired about his algebra skills. “And I would wonder why he was asking me this,” Collier mused, “And he’d say, ‘There’s no difference.’” His confusion, he remembered, soon gave way to epiphany. “They’re all utilizing the same type of properties. Music is just a sonic version of chemistry. It’s a giant painting, in a museum we can all visit.”

Towards the end of our conversation, Collier showed me an image on his phone. Mistaking the star-shaped drawing for some kind of Da Vinci diagram, I asked him what it meant. “It’s John Coltrane’s spiritual geometry,” he said, “his Circle of Fifths, for ‘A Love Supreme.’” Considering that pentagram, with its intricate lines producing an eerie symmetry, I felt the gravity of Collier’s words on jazz. Mathematics, science, music—glued together through the sheer force of belief. Sonic chemistry, indeed.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Krishna S. Kulkarni is a Master’s student at the University of Chicago, where he studies Middle Eastern history. He writes about food, music, and the people who craft them. He lives in Kenwood.

https://www.hpherald.com/arts_and_entertainment/hear-isaiah-collier-and-the-chosen-few-rehearse-each-week-at-the-connect-gallery/article_cf142846-adc7-11eb-ba2d-bf16983a5d7c.html

Hear Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few rehearse each week at the Connect Gallery

Jazz fest photo 1 (copy)

PHOTO:  Isaiah Collier (left) performs with brother Jeremiah during a performance at last year's Hyde Park Jazz Festival. 

On Tuesday evenings, anyone walking through Harper Court will be pulled in by the sounds coming from the Connect Gallery. Upon peeking inside, many may decide to stop and enjoy the musical stylings of Isaiah Collier as he rehearses with an ensemble of his band, The Chosen Few. 

The weekly rehearsal, open to the public, is an attempt to build community and bring people together during the pandemic, 22-year-old jazz saxophonist Collier said. He also enjoys giving people a chance to see how big shows come together. 

“I was just like, okay, let me debunk the myth of it. But this is also performance art. So it makes it more appropriate to bring both the visual arts and the sonic arts together,” he said, adding that it gives musicians an experience of dealing with their nerves.

Though they share the same name, Collier’s Chosen Few band has no relation to the DJ group that puts on an annual house music picnic in Hyde Park. Instead, the name was inspired by his uncle’s bikers club, the One Percenters AKA The Chosen Few. (But Collier does get asked about the correlation to the DJ group a lot, and says he’s open to doing a collaboration with them anytime.) 

Rob McKay, owner of the Connect Gallery, 1520 E. Harper Court, said that he and Collier got to know each other after the saxophonist played the Silver Room Block Party one year. They had been thinking of collaborating before the start of COVID, but the idea for the open rehearsals arose during the pandemic. They started the performances this February.

“He and I would come in the gallery and I just let him practice. [We said] once things start opening up we’re gonna hit it. We want people to experience something, something that inspires them,” he said. 

During this Tuesday’s rehearsal, Collier was in his element as he directed the band, which gradually grew in size as more members trickled in — giving them pointers, boosting their confidence, and encouraging them to push through the performance. The intimate and artsy ambiance at the gallery added to the experience. 

Though Collier is mostly associated with his talents on the saxophone, during the rehearsal he could be seen on the keyboard, directing the horn section as well as the bass and drums. He said that he decides what’s needed from him based on the jobs he’s doing. 

“I call myself a sonic scientist because it's all sounds and it's also going to be taken apart and put together and dissected and reconnected and be reimagined,” he said. “My thing is just to test all the different variables there are...I just want to continue to explore all the different avenues of our culture to the fullest.”

As a young jazz musician, Collier feels that he has a duty to bridge opposing sides when it comes to music. Not a lot of people in his generation are hip to jazz music because of how it’s presented, he said. 

“So when we present it in a palate of connectedness we say okay, you don't believe me when I say this stuff came from this, so let me show you,” Collier goes on to explain how Earth, Wind & Fire started off as a jazz band, giving the example that music is more connected than people realize — a point  that he hopes to make during the open practices.

But Collier also places blame on older musicians who complain about the new music coming out and point out what it’s lacking, wondering why they don’t work to fix the problem on their own. In that sense, the open rehearsals are a kind of “do it yourself” project for him — it's been paying off so far. 

Isaiah Collier at the Connect Gallery, 1520 E. Harper Court. Tuesdays at 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. $5+ suggested donation.

Connect Gallery also hosts open rehearsals with Micah Collier on Fridays, starting at 7 p.m.

Collier will be playing at The Quarry Event Center at 7 p.m. and Andy Jazz Club at 10:30 pm this Friday, May 7.

https://wjct.org/jme/2022/02/isaiah-collier-lift-every-voice/ 

A Stunning New Take on “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” from Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

Jazz prodigy breathes new life into the iconic Johnson Brothers' song

Press photo of Isaiah Collier
Credit: press photograph by Sonny Daze

We’ve written in the past about “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing, the classic penned by Jacksonville’s own James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson in 1900, which has found a vast range of expression over the decades, en route to becoming (soon) the official National Hymn of this country. You can now add a surprising new entry to the long list of legends who’ve taken this vocal vehicle around the block: Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few.

One of the rising stars of the Chicago music scene, at just 23, Collier is releasing “Voice” as a single, b/w “Guidance” (Yoruba Soul Mix) on Division 81 Records. It’s the only cover on an album otherwise comprised of originals. “Cosmic Transitions” was recorded in just one day–to be specific, September 23, 2020. It would’ve been John Coltrane’s 94th birthday, and Collier had written an entire five-part suite in tribute to his predecessor on the tenor saxophone. Joining Collier on the track: the Chosen Few, which includes, Mike King on piano, Jeremiah Hunt on bass and Michael Shekwoaga Ode on drums. 

Lift Every Voice · Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few Lift Every Voice ℗ Division 81 Records Released on: 2022-02-22 Composer Lyricist: Isaiah Composer Lyricist: Sonny Daze

The historical implications of this recording is boosted, given that it was recorded at the legendary Rudy Van Gelder Studios in Englewood Cliffs, NJ. Van Gelder (1924-20160 was arguably the most important music producer in history (but that’s a debate worth having), known primarily for his work with record labels like Riverside, Prestige and especially Blue Note. He also worked extensively with Coltrane during his most formative period; his first 18 studio albums were recorded at the original RVG studio in Hackensack (which Monk wrote a song about), as well as later classics like “Ascenscion” and “A Love Supreme”. 

Basically, all of Coltrane’s recorded work, aside from a brief period at Atlantic Records, was somehow filtered through the auditory aesthetic of Mr. Van Gelder–who, incidentally, helped usher in the concept of the “live album” through his recording of Coltrane at the Village Vanguard in 1961.

All this adds an extra layer of synchronicity to Collier’s rendition of “Lift.”

“We decided to go into the Studios of Rudy Van Gelder’s for a couple of reasons,” explains Collier. “That’s because we were enduring another struggle in Black culture/America, and ‘Lift Every Voice’ serves as an ode to our survival. Our never yielding faith and also as a requiem for every person who was a Black American and was slain unjustly. Persecuted, prosecuted and even stripped of dignities being seen as men, women and children.”

As one might expect, the combination of music and musicians, setting and sentiment, made for a perfect storm of creativity, and the results are stunning. “Cosmic Transitions” was an immediate entry on the list of best jazz albums of recent years. It’s incredible to consider that the whole thing was recorded in just one day, but then again, that would be very consistent with the kind of work-rate the men like Coltrane and Van Gelder were known for.

“‘Lift Every Voice’ reminds us to weather the storm and remember that the sun always comes shining through. ‘God of Our weary years, God of our silent tears.’ It’s a song that speaks to everyone who faces adversity on a daily basis. Our hearts sing with determination and resolve. We will continue until victory is won.”

The Johnson Brothers would be surely thrilled to hear this record, and so will you.

https://news-wttw-com.translate.goog/2019/09/26/isaiah-collier-emerging-chicago-talent-jazz-and-blues

Isaiah Collier: An Emerging Chicago Talent in Jazz and Blues


https://andysjazzclub.com/events/1st-set-isaiah-collier-the-chosen-few/

1st Set Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

Isaiah Collier, has been turning heads in Chicago since his parents - struck by his maturity, self-assured and, above all, musicality - encouraged him to learn to read and play instruments fluently. Collier, an alumni of ChiArts, and the Jazz Institute of Chicago and has been playing around the Chicagoland area for the past 5 years.

Isaiah has played with a plethora of artist such as: Rene Marie, Chance the Rapper, Stefon Harris, Roy McCurty, Carmen Bradford, Ernest Dawkins, Bennie Maupin, Ari Brown, Robert Irving III, Lewis Nash, The AACM and many more. Being mentor by musicians such as Antonio Hart, Ari Brown, Willie Pickens, Ernest Dawkins, Bennie Maupin, James Perkins, Charles Heath, Bobby Watson, Denise Thimes and many more local greats.

Isaiah was a part of “Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz All Star Peer-to-Peer Group” which was composed of five of the best high school student musicians around the country (2014-2017). Isaiah Collier, has performed for the” Thelonious Monk Trumpeter Competition at the Dolby theater and the White House. Isaiah Collier, with this amazing group of musicians had the distinctive honor to play before two Presidents of the United States of America, President Bill Clinton and President Barack Obama. Another highlight of being a part of this amazing group was being the last group to record with the legendary Rudy Van Gelder with Rudy overseeing most of the project. This group received a downbeat award after his passing (2016).

Isaiah has played at festivals such as: The Hyde Park Jazz festival, International Jazz Day at the White House, Englewood Jazz Festival, 51st Jazz Festival Sons D'hiver Jazz Festival in Paris, Chicago Jazz Festival, and Monterey Jazz Festival. An addition to Isaiah list of accomplishments he is a second year fellow at the “Dave Brubeck Institute" in Stockton, CA.

https://tamperejazz.fi/en/artist/isaiah-collier-the-chosen-few/ 

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

US

”Over five movements, the suite can be heard as a single statement: The blues give life to ballads, which give life to bebop, which are merely expressions of free modes of expression.”

– Joshua Myers, DownBeat

What could go wrong when a quartet of saxophonist, pianist, bassist and drummer tapes their record on their icon John Coltrane’s birthday – in the exact same, mythical studio of Rudy Van Gelder and with the exact same analogic equipment which Coltrane’s own immortal quartet used to record, for instance, their masterpiece A Love Supreme (1965)?

Quite a few things, in theory, and the place and time spicing up the story could end up being the only things worth mentioning. However, in this case the similarities were ultimately a side point: the hour-long Cosmic Transitions (2021), composed and arranged by young Isaiah Collier (b. 1998), is its own independent piece in the greatest and admittedly already somewhat traditional spirit of the profound “spiritual jazz”. Only the sky is the limit, they say, but Collier reaches out much further with his thematic five-part work: to the cosmic universe.

Born and raised in Chicago, Isaiah Collier began playing the saxophone at eleven years old, his first supporter and instructor being a Salvation Army captain. Collier saw his first released record at the age of eighteen with a group consisting of local young newcomers led by saxophonist and educator Ernest Dawkins.

Collier has released four albums of his own to this day. The latest of them (I Am: Beyond, 2022), expanding its precedent even further, is a duo album recorded with the drummer of his quartet, Michael Shekwoaga Ode. The aforementioned will not be a part of Collier’s line-up this time but will nonetheless be heard at Tampere Jazz Happening and at Pakkahuone, for he will perform in trumpetist Theo Croker’s quartet Saturday evening.

Musicians:

Isaiah Collier – saxophone
Jeremiah Hunt – bass
Julian Davis Reid – piano
James Russell Sims – drums

PHOTO © Sonny Dayes

https://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/lift-every-voice-and-sing 

 Image

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

‘Lift Every Voice And Sing’
(Division 81)

In honor of Black History Month, Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few today dropped its rendition of “Lift Every Voice And Sing,” and it’s beautiful. The Chosen Few recorded the tune at the end of its session that resulted in Cosmic Transitions (Division 81), a recording that has garnered plenty of praise for the 23-year-old woodwind player and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, including a 5-star review in the June 2021 issue of DownBeat. This is a plaintive, grooving rendition offers a 13-minute treatise on a composition that means so much to Black history and is often referred to as the Black national anthem. Collier and his saxophone are one in an emotionally charged performance channeling lessons he gleaned as a devotee of John Coltrane and the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). He’s expertly backed by Michael Shekwoaga Ode on drums, Jeremiah Hunt on upright bass and Mike King on piano. The single also includes a fantastic B-side, titled “Guidance (Yoruba Soul Mix).” Both tunes have one foot in exploration and both feet steeped deep in the groove. Collier and company deserve a serious listen; you can do so HERE. Better yet, support these young mavericks and buy the single. It’s worth the investment.

https://monicastatonwrites.wordpress.com/

CD Review: Isaiah Collier “The Unapologetic Negro” Live at the Coda Club Cafe

by Monica Staton

July 1, 2019

CD Review: Isaiah Collier “The Unapologetic Negro”

Isaiah Collier – Saxophones, piano, vocals

James Wenzel – Upright bass

Marcus Evans – Drums

Collier’s sound is unapologetic: he doesn’t acknowledge or express any regret on his latest recording. There are long solos, an elegantly sparse sound. There’s no pianist or guitarist, leaving the listener to focus on the dialogue between the bassist, the saxophonist, and drummer.

The musical landscape is stretched. Typically, upright bassists play a four-stringed instrument. In this recording James Wenzel plays a five-string bass. In contrast, Collier often plays soprano sax reaching higher notes—creating a middle space that is only occupied by the drums. Everything becomes melody, a consistent dialogue.

A jazz novice would appreciate this recording because of its intensity. A jazz aficionado would appreciate Collier’s pristine harmonic depth and his drift into complete freedom. I found a deeply personal and emotional Collier. I felt his goal on this recording was to give listeners a grounding that would allow them to explore the music more on their own.

Isaiah Collier’s The Unapologetic Negroconsists of a live recording from Cafe Coda in Madison, WI on February 2, 2019. The sax trio interprets eight original compositions of the Chicago-born musician, now twenty-one years old.

“Retrograde Amian” is a ballad reminiscent of Coltrane’s “Naima.”Collier’s sound ranges from a full tenor sound bearing comparison with that of John Coltrane, to an airy sound like that of Pharoah Sanders. He does this without compromising his own identity.

The composition “Closed Doors” is a contrafact of some sort of McCoy Tyner’s “Contemplation”—a new melody written over an existing standard. The soprano solo leads to a heated musical conversation between drummer Marcus Evans and Collier.

“5874 (We Want Justice Right Now)”is a two-part composition starting with an uptempo blues. The first solo is taken by Marcus Evans. He later comes back with a long trading section with Collier where he takes eight bars of drum solo and the sax takes four bars in a back-and-forth parley. Throughout the whole recording Evans plays a key role in the creative input of the trio. His distinct and warm drum sound only makes his statements stronger.

In the second part of the piece, saxophonist Collier starts playing the piano behind Wenzel’s bass solo. Wenzel takes risks pushing the limits of his bass. This creates a liberated atmosphere where trust becomes a key element in the music. Finally, the band begins a chant, “We want justice right now,” involving the audience.

In this moment in history there continues to exist a disillusionment with justice. The exploration of freedom and equality are back by popular demand—and the discussion reveals itself in Collier’s The Unapologetic Negro.

https://downbeat.com/news/detail/first-take-songs-of-resilience 

First Take: Songs of Resilience

Image

PHOTO:  Collier, at work in the midst of COVID, at Van Gelder Studios last September.  (Photo: Tiffany Smith)

Pandemic stories — we hear them wherever we go. Pretty much every story in this issue is a pandemic story in some way. How could this not be true since we’ve been living with COVID-19 for more than a year now?

But here’s the twist. Before reading a word, you might think these would be tales of woe and misery. Admittedly, there is a certain sentiment of loss and longing, but the overarching theme is one of can-do creativity and resilience.

One of my favorite stories from our June issue was a behind-the-scenes look at the five-star recording from saxophonist Isaiah Collier.

Collier, 23, and his band The Chosen Few have created Cosmic Transitions, a fire-breathing work that demonstrates musical spark and depth well beyond Collier’s years.

In September of last year, in the midst of COVID, Collier and the band sojourned to Van Gelder Studios in New Jersey, one of the great jazz shrines, created by the late Rudy Van Gelder.

“I was one of the last group of cats to work with Rudy in 2016 when I was part of the Thelonious Monk Institute’s peer-to-peer international all-star group,” Collier said. “Going back, it was nostalgic, but not only that, the energy was more intense because it was like, ‘OK, all this musical DNA has been etched into this one room.’ Now it’s your turn to add onto this DNA.”

Collier said he and the band felt that presence, and that pressure, as soon as they entered.

“One hundred percent,” he said. “I was completely surprised by everything. When my friend Sonny Daze [at District 81 Records] reached out to me about [recording], I said, ‘Man, if you want me to record this album, the only place I can think of is Van Gelder’s.’ And he was like, ‘That’s funny because that’s the place I got.’”

Recording it on Sept. 23 made the date even more of an event for Collier. It was the first day after the autumnal equinox … and John Coltrane’s birthday. Coltrane, of course, recorded more than 40 albums at Van Gelder’s, including A Love Supreme in 1964.

“The energy in that place was beyond the word … active,” Collier said. “We did this record in the very same format that they did back then. Everybody was in one room. But the distance was great enough to keep us separated [for COVID purposes].”

All of this brings up the question of how young artists try to make a name for themselves in the midst of this pandemic.

“I’ve been blessed, I’m not going to even front,” Collier said. “Not only that, but being blessed enough to take a step back and assess the situation and still figure out how I can make this work. I was laughing at this because I was like, ‘It’s such a funny time to be alive.’ And someone asked, ‘What do you mean by that?’ We have a rare occasion. It’s kind of like we’re living through multiple different time periods all at once. I feel like we’re living through the ’20s, ’30s, ’60s and even the ’90s, but all simultaneously.

“And you’ve got to think, in those times, what were Bird and all of them doing? They had to overcome some of the same things.”

For Collier, that sense of the ancestors and their difficult times serve as inspiration.

“If you’re going to be about it, there’s nothing that’s going to stop you from getting what you’ve got to get done,” he said. “This time has provided me with a moment to be creative. This is about being creative. It’s there. Do what you have to do. Create your own opportunities.” DB

https://downbeat.com/reviews/detail/beyond 

I AM

Beyond
(Division 81)

A storm is brewing. The skies are darkening and there is a humid thickness in the air; the wind is eerily calm. Then a flash of light, silence and the tooth-rattling force of the thunderclap. Its sounds reverberate, coaxing the clouds to burst and release their sheets of rain. The storm has come.

For saxophonist Isaiah Collier and drummer Michael Shekwoaga Ode, this roiling chaos is their creative space. Within it they eke out the anticipation of coming cacophony, they explode forth like thunder and lightning, and finally rest within the quietude of survival.

Having first met during Collier’s audition for Oberlin College, the twentysomething pair have developed an improvisatory telepathy far beyond their years. On their debut album as a duo, Beyond, they channel the rhythmic fury of drum and saxophone pairings such as Kenny Garrett and Jeff “Tain” Watts and Albert Ayler and Sunny Murray.

Across its seven tracks, Beyond plays through a wide dynamic range while Collier and Ode take turns to battle each other for musical supremacy.

Opener “Introduction: Take Me Beyond” features the spoken-word poetry of Jimmy Chan, setting the anticipatory scene for the coming aural onslaught with a trance-like ambience. Collier’s keening saxophone then moves us into the body of the suite, charging over Ode’s rolling toms on “Suns Of Mercury (Storms Of Revelations)” before settling into an earthy swing on highlights “Confessions Of the Heart” and “The Vessel Speaks.”

Producer Sonny Daze takes expert control of the reverb throughout, often making Collier’s long lines sound electronically processed to wash over Ode’s cymbal work. Yet, it is in the acoustic rawness of this duo’s playing that their strengths lie.

https://pitchperfectpr.com/isaiah-collier-the-chosen-few/ 

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

"Lift Every Voice" b/w "Guidance" (Yoruba Soul Mix) (Division 81)

Contact Sam McAllister about Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

“[Cosmic Transitions] handles the blues with care. They are the foundation, again and again, for a musical gift that is an ancestral inheritance.” — Downbeat (5 Stars)

“Much like the ancestor guiding this work, Collier creates open-ended music designed to connect with another realm.” — Bandcamp

“[Cosmic Transitions] has a vintage sound, but not like an Impulse! or Blue Note recording; instead, the group seems to have gone out of their way to capture the sound and feel of a self-released Afrocentric out jazz record from the early ’70s, or something that would have come out on India Navigation or Strata-East.” — Stereogum

In honor Black History Month, Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few, “a vital force in the Chicago scene” (Chicago Reader), present a stunning, expansive rendition of “Lift Every Voice And Sing” b/w “Guidance” (Yoruba Soul Mix), via Division 81 Records. Collier’s first release since his masterful 2021 album, Cosmic Transitions – praised by DownBeat in a rare 5-star review as “a sound that disturbs the grounds of our imagination” – Collier and his band’s interpretation of “Lift Every Voice And Sing” was crafted with a purpose to connect all people through sound. Recorded on what would have been John Coltrane’s 94th birthday in the legendary Van Gelder Studio (the same room Coltrane recorded A Love Supreme), directly after completing the final take for Cosmic Transitions, Collier & The Chosen Few – comprised of Michael Shekwoaga Ode (drums), Jeremiah Hunt (upright bass), and Mike King (piano), bring the sound of jazz standards and spiritual anthems together with one request, to “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

“We decided to go into the Studios of Rudy Van Gelder’s for a couple of reasons,” explains Collier. “That’s because we were enduring another struggle in Black culture/America, and ‘Lift Every Voice’ serves as an ode to our survival. Our never yielding faith and also as a requiem for every person who was a Black American and was slain unjustly. Persecuted, prosecuted and even stripped of dignities being seen as men, women and children. ‘Lift Every Voice’ reminds us to weather the storm and remember that the sun always comes shining through. ‘God of Our weary years, God of our silent tears.’ It’s a song that speaks to everyone who faces adversity on a daily basis. Our hearts sing with determination and resolve. We will continue forward and beyond, until victory is won.

At 23-years-old, Chicago/Brooklyn-based musician and composer, Isaiah Collier, has “transcended the realm of prodigy” (DownBeat), quickly becoming a tour-de-force in the Chicago music scene. As a child, Collier would play saxophone in the early hours of the morning, joined by his siblings to form a ramshackle band jam. Since those early days, Collier has developed into a musical auteur, playing sax, piano, drums, and more, and has performed all across the country as well as Europe and South America. 

On his most recent release, Cosmic Transitions, Collier and his band entered Rudy Van Gelder’s famed studio in New Jersey, on what would have been John Coltrane’s 94th birthday, to record the five-part suite composed by Collier himself. To compress all the understanding, lessons, love, and humility into writing would surely be taking the breath from the poetic moment that occurred on September 23rd, 2020. Recorded over the course of one day, each musician across the album takes hold of this composition and threads their own path to the purpose of this work of art. That purpose is like most forms of art, left to an audience for interpretation, to examine their place in life and hopefully feel a connection to something more than the here and now. Cosmic Transitions begins in invocation, with frequencies resonating in the same room where so many had stood with hopes and intentions that their art and purpose service a greater understanding. The performance finds each musician pushing and exploring the sonics of their individual instruments to expand as one wave, one journey. Beyond any space and time, beyond the common understanding of life and death, beyond a type of music or crowd, Cosmic Transitions is a doorway for all.

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/110116-002-A/isaiah-collier-the-chosen-few/ 

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few 

Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt 2022

Cosmic, meditative, and spiritual, Isaiah Collier is in the tradition of saxophonists such as John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, or other musicians like Sun Ra or Kamasi Washington. He shares the stage of the Frankfurt Jazz Festival with his quartet: The Chosen Few.

VIDEO: 

https://www.arte.tv/en/videos/110116-002-A/isaiah-collier-the-chosen-few/

Production :

  • Hessischer Rundfunk

Country :

  • Germany

Year :

  • 2022

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few fully explore moments of the past, present, and, yes, even the future. The new album Cosmic Transitions is a Five-part suite that addresses interpersonal relationships during a Retrograde period. The recording of this project took place on September 23rd, 2020 at Rudy Van Gelder‘s legendary studio where greats like John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, and many other great musicians expressed what they felt in those moments. Isaiah Collier is a Chicago/Brooklyn based multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, curator, activist, motivational speaker & educator. He is probably most known for his work as a saxophonist, and drummer with this group. His sound/approach is drawn from the influences of John Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, Wayne Shorter, Ari Brown and Gene Ammons and he has shared the stage with many distinguished artists—Chance The Rapper, Lewis Nash, Waddada Leo Smith III, Junius Paul, James Carter, Rene Marie, Marquis Hill, Bennie Maupin, Rudy Van Gelder, Angel Bat Dawid, Kahil El’Zabar and many more. He is one of many bright stars from Chicago and will bring the Chosen Few to Madison on June 12th for two shows at Cafe Coda as part of the Madison Jazz Festival

AUDIO INTERVIEW:  

https://soundcloud.com/user-842006327/isaiah-collier

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few are heading into the festival on the heels of a fresh new music release. A release filled with a wide range of human emotions and musical possibility, Cosmic Transitions was crafted with the full intention to awaken those who hear it. Each part of the Suite weaves into the next. Not for the faint of heart, the album sets out to be a timestamp for before and after. Enjoy the journey. And enjoy our conversation about the upcoming event (who will be making the moments with us),the creation of these newest sonic adventures and the giving of and beyond the music.


THE MUSIC OF ISAIAH COLLIER: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH ISAIAH COLLIER:
                   

ISAIAH COLLIER & THE CHOSEN FEW March 5th, 2022



Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few


Cologne Jazzweek 2022 - Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few



Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few- Live at Smalls Jazz Club 1-6-22



Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few | AFA On_Line Salon



Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few - One Show (BlueStem Jazz)



Madison Jazz Festival - Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few



Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few | One Show Only (BlueStem ...



Isaiah Collier & the Chosen Few - Lift Every Voice (Full Album)



Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few | AFA On_Line Salon

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few - Invocation/Part I. Forgiveness



Isaiah Collier Group Live at Fulton Street Collective



Isaiah Collier and the Chosen Few



Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few - Live at Smalls Jazz Club



Isaiah collier and the chosen few @bimhuis - 09-11-2022



Impressions Isaiah Collier, James Carter, Ernest Dawkins ...