Humber Music kicks off the 2023-2024 Noon-Hour Concert Series with this extraordinary jazz ensemble. The New Abeng Quartet is comprised of multi-award-winning musicians who number among Canada’s finest jazz artists: Band leader Rich Brown, amongst Canada's most renowned bass players is joined by drum legend, Larnell Lewis, internationally acclaimed pianist Jeremy Ledbetter, and celebrated saxophonist Luis Deniz in concert. This supergroup has toured across Canada to rave reviews.

Drawing upon jazz-funk, fusion and rock influences, the ensemble’s music engages progressive concepts in both harmony and melody, where complex rhythms produce an exciting, fresh, and contemporary sound.  

The ensemble earned a 2020 JUNO Award for their album, Abundance and recently released their follow-up recording, Abeng. Grounded in a spirit of resistance against oppression, the new album, and namesake of the group, is described by Ted Quinlan in The WholeNote as, “an impassioned reaction to, and path forward from, some of the darkest forces of human nature, specifically racism and divisiveness. [Brown] has chosen the abeng, an instrument originally fashioned by escaped Jamaican slaves, as a metaphor for a call to unity.” 

Larnell Lewis and Rich Brown are current members of Humber faculty; Luis Deniz has also been a regular teacher at Humber.