Pianist Isaiah J. Thompson has announced his new album The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry, out June 6 via Mack Avenue Records. With its life-affirming meld of swing and blues and its expert command of jazz heritage, The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry draws lines to landmark works of jazz divinity by Mary Lou Williams, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and other titans. The album announcement comes with the first single “VIII. The Prophet.”

“My wife and I have been praying over this recording for a year now and I am so excited to be releasing the first single from my suite, The Book of Isaiah,” says Thompson “‘The Prophet’ is a modern day blues and chant inspired by composers like Charles Mingus and Cannonball Adderley. This song is the final movement of the suite and the composition elicits the feeling of the African-American’s struggle for freedom to symbolize the adversity that the believer will face in becoming truly free through faith. I was named after the prophet Isaiah and he spoke of the coming of Jesus. Even when I wasn’t following God, the prophet’s name was always with me and I’ve come to realize and so was God.”

Thompson is one of the most acclaimed young pianists of his generation, having earned a slew of high-profile awards, two degrees from The Juilliard School, and work with renowned artists including Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, Christian McBride and John Pizzarelli, whose trio, an institution in small-group swing, Thompson joined in 2019. NPR’s Jazz Night In America praised him as “a young musician and composer with a mature touch and rare combination of talent, creativity, humility and honesty.”

When it came time to unpack his faith musically on The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry, Thompson tapped trusted collaborators including tenor saxophonist Julian Lee, bassist Marty Jaffe, drummer Miguel Russell, and pianist Cyrus Chestnut, who co-produced the project. New Orleans percussion great Herlin Riley contributes tambourine and vocals on select songs, vocal star Vuyo Sotashe sings on three tracks, and Thompson’s wife, Kaitlin Obien-Thompson adds backing vocals to the album-closing “VIII. The Prophet.” 

A devoted student of jazz history, Thompson wrote the album under the sway of jazz icons who crafted paeans to the Creator without explicitly chasing a “gospel-jazz” fusion. The spiritual works of Duke Ellington, Mary Lou Williams and Wynton Marsalis became major touchstones, as well as the transcendent recordings of John Coltrane and the churchly textures of Charles Mingus. Throughout these eight tracks, Thompson probes his devotional life without fear, underscoring simple but too-often overlooked truths about our relationship with God. 

Photo Courtesy: Evelyn Freja