Profiles

Julian Davis Reid is an artist-theologian from Chicago whose work invites us to rejoice, lament, and hope together. A graduate of Chicago’s Whitney M. Young High School, Yale University (BA), and Candler School of Theology at Emory University (MDiv), Reid is a pianist, composer, producer, speaker, and writer. He is the founder of the ministry Notes of Rest, a contemplative musical experience that invites the weary to practice God’s transforming rest through the Bible and Black music. Reid is also the artistic director for Testify!, a project from Christian Theological Seminary that strengthens Christian witness in Black churches by reviving testimony traditions through artistic witness and digital storytelling.

Reid has released seven studio albums under his own name and with the group The JuJu Exchange. His most recent release, Mercy We Need, came out in September 2026. He has toured in Asia, Europe, and North America, and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Fest, Lollapalooza, and the Berlin Jazz Fest. He has collaborated across genres with artists including Chance the Rapper, Tank and the Bangas, Jamila Woods, Keyon Harrold, Abiodun Oyewole from The Last Poets, and Ken Medema. 

Reid is an award-winning writer whose essays about his journey as an artist-theologian can be found on his Substack Julian’s Note. He lives in Chicago with his wife, Carmen, and their daughter, Lydia, and they are members of Lawndale Christian Community Church.