Jazz Articles about Josh Harlow

About Josh Harlow

Album Review

Teiku is a Talmudic acronym that translates to “unanswered question," a concept the Chicago-Detroit quartet has adopted as a full artistic identity. Co-leaders Josh Harlow (piano) and Jonathan Barahal (percussion) formed the band after discovering a striking coincidence: Both grew up singing Passover melodies unique to their ancestral Ashkenazi-Ukrainian villages. Passed down by ear through generations from communities wiped out by persecutions, these liturgical songs became the raw material for a creative jazz project that registers as deeply spiritual yet ...

Album Review

Microplastique: Blare Blow Bloom!

Read "Blare Blow Bloom!" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 12, 2024

Blare Blow Bloom! by Microplastique, a Chicago-based contemporary music group, is a wild ride through the avant-garde jazz landscape. The album is a cacophony of sound that somehow manages to be both chaotic and harmonious, a testament to the artists' musical prowess and fearless creativity. The press release states: “Performing the compositions of band leader Adam Shead, Microplastique creates music that is both absurd in its aesthetic and serious in its execution." The album features selections from concerts in Cleveland, ...

Album Review

Microplastique: Blare Blow Bloom!

Read "Blare Blow Bloom!" reviewed by Lawrence Peryer

by Lawrence Peryer
December 6, 2024

Chicago's experimental music scene welcomes a new voice as Microplastique, four multi-instrumentalists, release their debut album, Blare Blow Bloom! (Irritable Mystic Records), on December 6, 2024. Formed in April 2023, the group includes Ben Zucker, Molly Jones, Josh Harlow and Adam Shead, with Shead composing and leading. Blare Blow Bloom! documents Microplastique's July 2024 US tour. Ten tracks from shows in Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee, Lafayette, and Indianapolis display the group's talent for reshaping composed material through improvisation. Each ...