Isaiah Collier photo by Johanna Brinckman
Sunday, April 6, 8pm
Black & Tan Hall
5608 Rainier Ave S
$15-30 or Gold Pass*
Chicago-born and bred saxophonist Isaiah Collier has taken residence in New York City’s borough of Brooklyn, a shift in the young 27-year-old musician’s life that has known change to be the only constant in the whirlwind first seven years of his career. Through six recordings and an extensive touring schedule, Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few have probed deeply into the world around us, creating music that is telling us the turbulent story of modern life in America in the here and now. Finally landing in Seattle with the release of their latest album, The World Is On Fire, the quartet is performing its final concerts as this particular iteration of The Chosen Few.
Collier’s sound is characterized and inevitably compared to those by iconic masters John Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders, and rightfully so. His approach can one moment seem turbulent and the next meditative, demonstrating an innate sense of musical and social dynamics. His playing, much like his personal social characteristics, has an honesty and openness to it that speaks to the young man’s social awareness and spiritual guidance. Collier does indeed reach back to collectively harness the spirit and musicality of Coltrane and Sanders, but his music seems to be out ahead of him as well, constantly in exploration mode, searching for new answers to new questions. Speaking to The New York Times, Collier stated, “As much as I love Coltrane, I don’t think it’s about necessarily trying to sound like a person like that or a Pharoah, but we have to ask the question: What was going on in those times?” he said, referencing the political and social upheaval of the ‘60s. “So, what’s going on now? A very radical time again.”
Collier’s 2024 release, The Almighty, was an exercise in meditative interludes, musically looking inward towards divine connection, while The World Is On Fire examines modern turbulent times in an outward socio-political sense. Both recordings do come from a place that is often identified as “spiritual jazz,” the music arising from a very deep space in the soul of the artist. Collier has attained a rare virtuosity at a very young age, all within a time frame that has seen the world fall into a hundred year pandemic and continue to reveal the perils of racism. His new music is an observation log of the past four years in real time, including reaction to the procession of violence targeting Black men and women. The 2020 murder of Ahmaud Arbery and the 2023 shooting of Kansas City teenager Ralph Yarl act as primary motivators of music that comes from a very real, tangible place. The quartet has a unique ability to take the listener from the ground to the heavens within the short premise of an angular phrase uttered by the saxophonist, or by an elongated statement of orchestral presence within a composition. The result is a powerful connection that diminishes the separation between stage and audience, between musician and listener.
For those who are constantly seeking the spiritual aspects of jazz music decades in the past, passage through the doors of Black & Tan Hall for this performance may prove to be highly revelatory. Tickets on sale now at earshot.org.
*Learn more about Earshot Jazz’s new season pass the “Gold Pass” at earshot.org/goldpass.
