Beauty in the Dark

BUST the play and EP out today, A Teaching on African Mysticism this Saturday

Apr 28, 2025

What’s good everyone,

I pray this week finds you encouraged in some way amidst it all. I come bearing good news: the inaugural Notes of Rest Retreat registration has been extended to May 20th. If you’ve been on the fence about signing up, I pray these extra few weeks gives you time to discern. It’ll be special. You can read more about it in last week’s post.

Register for the Notes of Rest Retreat

Julian Davis Reid

Apr 24

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I had the privilege of recording an EP of covers and an original piece for a new original play from my friend and Pulitzer Prize finalist Zora Howard. The play is entitled BUST and is out now at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. It is a story about Black rage, masculinity, and healing. My wife Carmen and I look forward to seeing it tonight for the opening night. Here’s a little blurb I did on IG about it.

I give thanks I could record this project with my group Circle of Trust - Tramaine Parker, Lenard Simpson, Micah Collier, James Russell Sims, and a guest appearance by my dear homie Rev. Dr. Nick Peterson. My favorite cut off the EP is called Porch Sittin’, the only original track. (The others are the Negro Spiritual I’ll Fly Away and Leonard Bernstein’s Somewhere). Porch Sittin’ is a sonic depiction of Black folk sitting on porches just talking about the latest news in the Black community, including the latest headlines of anti-black violence. On this track Nick and Tramaine’s vocalizations are that conversation, with the band coloring around that. In the pulsing from James on kit, Micah on bass, and myself on piano, you can hear the steady pulsing of rocking chairs, the steady pulsing of talking nightly, the steady pulse of contending with our pain. Lenard’s solo sounds the blues of it all.

Zora, who attended Yale College with me and my wife, had just a few guidelines for the soundtrack, which will play at intermission: it needs to sound Black, I’ll Fly Away needs to speak to the disorientation that happens at the end of Act 1, and Bernstein’s Somewhere needs to conclude the project to take us into into Act 2. To that effect, I’ll Fly Away is very aggressive and weird, which was my way of embodying the idea of Negro slaves disorienting American society by stealing (steeling) themselves. I’ve sung I’ll Fly Away throughout my life in church contexts, and it’s always been upbeat but still controlled. My version, by contrast, is very upbeat, but not controlled. To be sure, that’s not a dig at the way it’s typically sung - congregational singing needs stability and I love the theology embodied in singing together a song that declares that one day we’ll leave the death and destruction of this antiblack world behind as God’s new world unfolds. However, I also relished the opportunity to create an instrumental jazz version that allowed for more exploration into the implications of saying to ourselves and to the country that our designation as fungible flesh is not the end of who we are.

By contrast, my rendition of Somewhere is ethereal and calm. I don’t want to give away too much of Zora’s intentions with that song, but suffice it to say that the melody is purposely only so coherent. (I approached this song the same way Isaiah Collier had me approach his composition Compassion on his record The Almighty.)

I am thankful that throughout this year I have been able to showcase different sides of my musical personality through my personal releases. It began on Inauguration Day with When Souls Cry Out, a gut-wrenching two-track single that heralded the new regime. The Last Days of Cabrini-Green came out during Black History Month as the soundtrack to the Audible podcast about the important story of a failed housing project experiment in my beloved Chicago. Notes of Rest Hymns Vol. 1 came out on Tax Day as a calming collection of meditative hymns to counterbalance the absurdity of Trump’s antics, antics for which we American taxpayers must pay (and for which much of the world pays in one way or another). And now BUST gives a container for (Black) disorientation and hope for a new world unfolding. (In addition, The JuJu Exchange has released two singles this spring, Somebody Caught Me and Sunlike.)

Notes of Rest Hymns, Vol. 1 was released right before Sunday Easter, and BUST shortly thereafter. In doing so I offer musical meditations on the power of Jesus to walk with us in our pain and expectation. I pray my releases help you release what you need to let out too. Glory be to God.

An Ancient Flowing Stream on May 3rd, Tickets here

In this spirit, Tramaine and I are performing the Notes of Rest Hymns Vol. 1 record this Saturday online in partnership with Archbishop Tutu’s former right hand man, The Very Rev. Dr. Michael Battle. An Anglican priest, Michael is a thought leader in the African contributions to Christian contemplative life and has been a hero of mine in this Black contemplative journey. It is a joy and honor to now get to work with him. Sponsored by Contemplative Outreach, Michael and I will be co-presenting and discussing African mysticism from our various seats at the table. You can register for that event here.

In all ways and at all times, may God help you find beauty in the dark.

abundantly,

Julian

What’s Next

May 1 The JuJu Exchange at Divan Steakhouse (Chicago)

May 2 Notes of Rest and a Talk on Substack at Associated Church Press Conference (Chicago)

May 3 An Ancient Flowing Stream - African Contemplation Summit with Rev. Dr. Michael Battle

May 5 Notes of Rest at Chicago State

May 8 Solo piano at Young Library Branch, 415 E. 79th St. (Chicago)

May 9 w/ Zach Finnegan (Wausau, Wisconsin)

May 13 Solo piano at Back of the Yards Library Branch, 2111 W. 47th Street (Chicago)

May 14 Julian Davis Reid & Circle of Trust at Dorian’s (Chicago)