JULIAN DAVIS REID AND CIRCLE OF TRUST

MERCY WE NEED

Too Lost Distribution

Julian Davis Reid, piano/composer/bandleader; Ethan Philion, bass; James Russell Sims, drums; Tramaine Parker, lead vocals; Lenard Simpson, alto saxophone; Eva Supreme, Demond Read & Lenard Simpson, background vocals.

Pianist composer Julian Davis Reid is the founder of the ministry Notes of Rest. This is his sixth album release. In 2021, He recorded “Rest Assured.” In 2023 he released an EP titled “Candid” followed by a solo piano album in 2024 titled “Still Waters.”  “When Souls Cry Out” was a duo project featuring the vocals of Tremaine Parker. Then Reid recorded with his group “The Circle of Trust” on a full-length album released in 2025 called “Vocation.”

Their opening composition on his new album “Mercy We Need” was written by Julian Davis Reid; “Not Yet Home.”  It was also the first single release from this album. Towards the end of their instrumental arrangement featuring his “Circle of Trust” ensemble, a soprano vocal improvisation joins them. Tramaine Parker builds drama into the repetition. Then she’s joined by another voice, Eva Supreme. Together, they layer the background, a harmonious choir of two.

Ethan Philion on bass opens a song called, “Her Care A Gift.”  Parker is the vocalist and Davis Reid is featured on piano in a trio setting. On a tune called “Moan” the a ‘Capella vocal of Parker begins this arrangement.  When Davis Reid enters on piano, the song develops as an improvisational piece, with James Russell Sims holding the rhythm in place on drums.

I enjoyed track #6, “Its Time My Friend,” that featured a lovely solo by bassist Philion. Davis Reid showed off his jazz chops on piano.  However, as the tune grew, the timing and the groove danced all over the place. The arrangement and melody I was drawn to became almost experimental music.  I couldn’t figure out if this feeling of “out-of-time” was purposeful or unintentional.

Julian Davis Reid and Circle of Trust cover the very familiar “What’s Going On? Hit song by Marvin Gaye inside a medley that includes another popular tune, “Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” Leonard Simpson is quite improvisational on his horn, but the two popular tunes are nearly unrecognizable.  The premise of experimental jazz or Avant-garde music takes over the songs for nearly ten minutes.

Davis Reid is a classically trained pianist who grew up playing gospel and jazz piano.  At Yale College he took classes in music theory and earned a degree in philosophy. He has experience leading a jazz trio and serving as keyboardist and musical director of the Black Church at Yale, where he later became a pastor.  He earned a Master of Divinity at the Candler School of Theology at Emory University where his thesis was on the theological implications of wordless improvisation.

This pianist has toured North America, Asia and Europe with various groups, creating music with numerous artists playing many genres from jazz and classical to hip-hop and gospel. Now, based in his hometown Chicago, he continues to work, compose and tour with his current band, “Circle of Trust.”

Reviewed by Dee Dee McNeil

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