By Nick Metzger
A few years removed from their 2021 haymaker Cosmic Transitions, Isaiah Collier and Company return with another album of four-alarm fire music on their fourth release “The Almighty”. This time around the Chosen Few are Michael Shekwoaga Ode on drums, Jeremiah Hunt on bass (both returning from the previous release), and Julien Davis Reid on piano. It’s the quartet’s second record for Sonny Daze’s Division 81 and Collier and Ode's third after their 2022 duo release I AM BEYOND. There’s a nice interview with Collier by Rob Shepard for Post Genre where they discuss this record in the context of old masters. Collier, like many musicians, sees himself as a conduit - adding to conversations that have been held but also performing his culture as a black musician in his times. As a freshly minted member of the AACM - which has counted among its tenants some of the finest musicians of all time - Collier has his work cut out for him. That said, everything I’ve heard from the man makes the case that he’s more than up to the task and this album is no exception. A bounty of joyful noise steeped in good vibes and hope from one of Chicago’s most talented and intriguing young players.
The album kicks off with a piece titled “Love” featuring fellow AACM member Dee Alexander on vocals. The song acts as an initiation whose saccharine filaments slowly proliferate into a crescendo of vocal howls, saxophone squall, and thunderous percussion. The sound of a rain stick opens “Compassion” with Ari Brown, also of the AACM, joining the quartet. The sound is expansive with chimes and lofty piano runs and the saxophones are enhanced by studio reverb, amplifying the surreal feeling of the music. The two tenors duet over a gradual, hazy buildup that isn’t so much a song as it is layered vibrations. On “Perspective (Peace and Love)” Collier sings a vocal mantra against a surging backdrop of flute and small percussion to start the track. Once it gets going and the piano picks up the melody the piece takes its shape. This one in particular brings to mind Pharoah Sanders and maybe Harry Miller and/or Louis Moholo-Moholo’s uplifting spiritual jazz. The honking intro to the “Duality Suite'' is where things really start to heat up. With a length about 3 times that of the previous songs combined, the quartet spreads things out, shifting through different modes and motifs and trading some seriously tempestuous solos. It’s excellent. On the final track Collier is joined by The Celestials, an 11 member ensemble that augments the quartet with strings and additional horns. The track’s third stream approach closes out the record in pretty majestic fashion.
I’d been on the lookout for this record for a while and it hasn’t disappointed - not a bit. It’s definitely been one of my favorites this year and I’ve been listening to it for a while, as this one dropped back in April. The playing on the album is absolutely electric, Collier keeps getting better with each release and combined with this rhythm section the music gets pushed into some very visceral places. It's a special blend that they play, there isn’t a lot of fusion or genre blending like you hear with Kamasi Washington or even Makaya McCraven, they play pretty straight - but yet it sounds equivalently modern. This is a testament to Collier’s extended musical vocabulary. And to that point it’s worth noting that Collier released a great direct-to-disc recording last year called Parallel Universe that presents yet another facet of his music (it's probably outside of our purview here, but an excellent listen for those so inclined, I really enjoy it). This young quartet is one of the absolute best in modern jazz, progressive and challenging but also familiar and joyous. Go see them live. Highly recommended.
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