TICKETS are $10 General/$5 Student. Concert is one long set. End time is approximate.

This concert is included in our Student Series since Jonathan is a graduate  student at Umich. The Student and Home Grown Series concerts made possible, in part, with support from the ArtsEverywhere Grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the Arts Project Support Grant and the Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.

Just days after the album’s  debut, welcome Teiku for this album release concert as a quartet. Teiku was founded by Chicago based pianist Josh Harlow and Detroit based  percussionist Jonathan Barahal Taylor as a means of documenting their families’ unique ancestral Passover melodies and arranging them into vehicles for expansive jazz improvisation. Their self-titled debut on 577 Records features legendary bassist Jaribu Shahid (Sun Ra Arkestra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Griot Galaxy, Geri Allen), prolific multi-instrumentalist  Rafael Leafar (Leafar Village, Robert Hurst, Jeff Mills) and multi-reedist  Peter Formanek. Teiku plays liberation music, harkening back to the spiritual need for freedom which animates both the tradition of Creative Music and the Passover holiday which these melodies mark.

“Very fascinating mix of Jewish music and jazz” - All About Jazz

"A complex and, at the same time, very attractive sounding album" - JazzQuad

“striking and powerful” Utility Fog Australia

Here is a link to the album pre-order: https://577records.bandcamp.com/album/teiku

Here is a link to a music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=3Fo53Me CwP0

Jonathan Barahal Taylor  - drums, arrangements 

Josh Harlow  -  piano, arrangements 

Jaribu Shahid  - bass 

Peter Formanek  - woodwinds

Jonathan Barahal Tayloris a Percussionist, Composer, and Improviser based in Detroit. An avid collaborator, he co-leads a number of diverse projects in addition to Teiku, Including the art-rock quartet saajtak, Root Beneath Bones, a solo project for drums and electronics, and Mover, which performs a constantly shifting modular suite of Taylor’s compositions and graphic scores. Taylor has played with some of the most revered names in Jazz and Creative Music, Including Wadada Leo Smith, John Lindberg, Tomeka Reid, Angelica Sanchez, Dave Liebman, Michael Formanek, Karl Berger, and Jaribu Shahid, and has performed at the DC Jazz Festival, EdgeFest, The Jazz Gallery In New York, the Detroit Jazz Festival, The Toronto Jazz Festival, The International ASJ Conference in Cape Town, South Africa, and in 2019 toured Japan with the art-rock band Throwaway. He attended the Banff Centre’s International Workshop for Jazz and Creative music under the direction of Vijay Iyer and Tyshawn Sorey in 2013 and 2018 and maintains studies in Tabla and Hindustani Music with Sri Souma Kanti Mukerjee, disciple of the late master of the Benares Gharana, Pt. Chhote Lal Mishra. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan where he earned a BFA in Jazz and Contemplative Studies, studying with Geri Allen, Andrew Bishop, Ellen Rowe, Evan Chambers, Mark Kirschenmann, Michael Gould, Stephen Rush, and Sean Dobbins.

Josh Harlow is a pianist and composer in Chicago. Born in Boston to a musical family, Josh's formative experiences included singing prayers in synagogue and playing rock and jazz with friends in basements, living rooms, and all-ages clubs. As a perpetual student and collaborator, Josh has been lucky to interface with like-minded peers and mentors including Wadada Leo Smith, John Lindberg, Vincent Davis, and Jaribu Shahid. Josh's music is luminous, creative, and playful; influences include Thelonious Monk, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Lake Michigan. As a composer and arranger, Josh has worked with choirs, 3-guitar trios, solo harpsichordists and beyond. Josh graduated from Oberlin Conservatory in 2016, where he studied Jazz, composition, and improvisation.

Jaribu Shahidis a bassist, composer, and improviser. He grew up splitting time between Detroit and Remus, MI, spending summers on his grandfather’s farm. Shahid’s first record, “Positive Force with Ade Olatunji,” was released in 1977, at which time he also became part of the formation of Griot Galaxy. Shahid held the bass chair in Sun Ra’s Arkestra from 1978 to 1980, and later joined Roscoe Mitchell’s band, which led to his becoming bassist for the Art Ensemble of Chicago from 2004 to the present. Additionally, Shahid played bass in the James Carter trio from 1993 to 1998 and worked with David Murray from 1998 to 2019.

Peter Formanekgrew up surrounded by world-class musicians, thanks to his father, Michael Formanek, who is a world-renowned jazz bassist and composer. Having been immersed in music from an early age and encouraged to listen, improvise, compose, and pursue his own musical interests, Formanek completely fell in love with music, he has never looked back since. Formanek began playing the saxophone in 2005 and picked up the clarinet and flute soon after. This quickly developed into a holistic embrace of an assortment of woodwind instruments and piano, and a decision to develop his artistic identity as a performing multi-instrumentalist. This was further encouraged and developed during Formanek’s time studying jazz saxophone at the University of Michigan with Professor Andrew Bishop, a great multi-woodwind performer himself.

Formanek has performed alongside a range of musicians of note, including Benny Golson, Jimmy Heath, Gary Burton, Steven Rush, Andrew Bishop, Tim Flood, Tim Haldeman, James Dapogny, Paul Keller, Paul Finkbeiner, John Douglas, Salim Washington, Tomeka Reed, Silvia Bolognesi, Mary Halvorson, Tomas Fujiwara, Tim Berne, Jim Black, Jacob Sacks, Michael Formanek, and many others.

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from the Wells Fargo Philanthropic Services Private Trust Foundations, which include grants from the Stanley A. and Flora P. Clark Memorial Community Trust Foundation (2020-2021; 2022-2023 seasons), the John, Anna, and Martha Jane Fields Memorial Trust Foundation (2021-2022; 2022-2023 seasons), and the Florence V. Carroll Charitable Trust (2021-2022; 2022-2023; 2023-2024 seasons). Special concert event support provided by the Arts Midwest Grow, Invest, Gather (GIG) Fund grant (2022-2023 season). Activities are made possible in part by the Arts Organization Support (AOS), Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency (2023-2024 season).

Concerts and events made possible, in part, with support from The Esther and George Jaruga Charitable Foundation (2020-2023 seasons). The Student and Home Grown Series concerts made possible, in part, with support from the ArtsEverywhere Grant from the Community Foundation of St. Joseph County, and the Arts Project Support Grant and the Arts Recovery Grant through the Indiana Arts Commission.