A Chicago/Brooklyn based multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, curator, activist, motivational speaker and educator, twenty-five-year-old Isaiah Collier is most known for his work as a saxophonist. A musical virtuoso in the truest sense of the word, he draws inspiration from legendary artists such as John Coltrane, Roscoe Mitchell, Wayne Shorter and others, and at age 11 exhibited an “intuitive proficiency” that earned him attention early on. The Chicago Tribune named him Jazz Artist of the Year in 2024 and his release that same year, The Almighty, was selected as one of the Top Ten Jazz Recordings by The New York Times. Downbeat Magazine selected him as one of 25 for the future in their 90th Anniversary issue in July 2024 and he was a winner of the Rising Star Award in Downbeat Magazine’s critics poll for Tenor Saxophone in 2023, as well as Soprano Saxophone in 2024. Collier was also named a Steve Jobs Fellow. Collier “plays his influences,” which he describes as a “sonic time machine,” noting “I reach backwards, and forwards simultaneously when creating art and what is ahead of me is the past.” Collier has already release six albums to date, including his latest, The World Is On Fire, whichis receiving wide critical acclaim and which reflects on the tumultuous period from before the onset of the COVID pandemic to the present day. Downbeat Magazine writes that the album is a “heartfelt requiem for lives lost and gross injustices gone unrectified ... that starkly express the social and economic turmoil that continues to rack the world as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close.” Collier himself notes, “This project is a sonic exploration, blending sounds, consciousness and activism to raise awareness about the pressing issues of our time.”