Recorded at Jazz at Lincoln Center and produced by Wynton Marsalis, this album features a pianist/composer that deserves some attention. Isaiah J. Thompson lead a team of Julian Lee/ts, Philip Norris/b and TJ Reddick or Domo Branch/dr through a pair of happening gigs from 2020 and 2021.His touch has that classic gospel drenched feel a la Bobby Timmons, and he even gives a bit of a blues march on the tribute tune to The Jazz Messengers during “The It Department” with tenor saxist Lee sounding a bit like somewhere between Harold Land and Wayne Shorter. There’s a great soul groover of “The Soul Messenger” while Thompson splashes around the nifty bass work on “‘For Phineas” before the band digs in like a chain gang. Branch snaps everyone to attention with his intro to the modal “Tales of The Elephant and The Butterfly” with Lee going into the stratosphere here and on the title tune. For my money, though, the work between Thompson and Lee on the lyrical “Thank You Betsy” is what you’re going to want to hear over and over. I like this guy-he’s got some moxie!