[Cover photo credit to Evelyn Freja]

Pianist Isaiah J. Thompson has announced his new album, The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry, out June 6th, 2025, via Mack Avenue Records. With a meld of swing, Blues, and Jazz, The Book of Isaiah: Modern Jazz Ministry draws lines to works by Mary Lou Williams, Duke Ellington, John Coltrane, and others. Along with the album announcement, Thompson has released the first single, “VIII. The Prophet.”

Thompson says:

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. ‘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 has two degrees from The Juilliard School, and has worked with 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.

After some injuries from overwork, and rehabilitation, Thompson found some new directions in his creative life and a spiritual turning point. Learning more about his name, Isaiah, led him to study the book of Isaiah in the Bible and inspired him to pursue his spiritual education in seminary.     

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.”