Isaiah Collier Releases New EP JOY via Brownswood Recordings
The five-song project highlights Collier's compositional range and multi-instrumentalist skill across genres.
Saxophonist, composer, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader Isaiah Collier has released a new EP titled JOY, a five-track collection issued through Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings. The project positions joy not simply as an emotion but as a grounding practice and a form of resistance amid ongoing social unrest and cultural division.
Collier's deeply personal compositions present joy as an act that isn't rooted in escapism or abstraction, but rather, as something hard-won rooted in lived experience, shaped by transformation, and sustained through connection. Throughout the album's five compositions, Collier positions joy as a guiding light during challenging times, an expression of challenging yourself to utilize your gifts, an affirmation of love and discovery, and as an affirmative source of reassurance.
'We are in a paradoxical time, where so much is being revealed to us,' Collier shares. 'Everything feels political from every scope… our collective hearts feel the heaviness in the air. Yet I say to you all—don't despair. For right now, the most political thing we can do is share joy.'
JOY finds Collier drawing on his skills as a composer and multi-instrumentalist across the recording's five tracks, moving between genres as he explores gratitude, resilience and human connection.
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