Our group pulls our inspiration from the communities and the humanity of the people we interact with, and that help shape our lives. Culture is a combination of everyone in the community and Toronto is a city that has deeply influenced and inspired each individual of our ensemble. Covid has caused this culture to become dormant, and we believe that looking into the past of African Culture and Rhythm will help our communities heal mentally and spiritually. The creative vision of our band is to combine ancient rhythms from Africa with modern jazz harmonies. These two worlds - from different places and eras - meet in our creative expression. Like Toronto, our meeting place, this music is a meeting place. Our music and the title of our concert and workshop series reflects the origins of rhythm; the inspirations for our music and what it has achieved: the sonorous mixing of rhythm and harmony, that mirrors Toronto's blend of culture and people. Audiences respond to these rhythms and melodies, which creates a vibrant exciting atmosphere, and they leave energized from our unique music. Fans have said, “We dance, we’re entranced, the music feeds our soul”. The Waleed Kush African Jazz Ensemble takes the improvisational qualities of jazz and the beat of ancient African rhythms to literally move, excite and inspire

new and old audiences alike.  

Our band members consist of award-winning artists, having over 30 years of experience playing across the globe. Our rhythms are played in what is considered "odd time" in Western music, combining jazz chord progressions with traditional African rhythms to produce an entrancing experience. Waleed tells stories atop an imaginative musical landscape, inspired by the chanting and vocal phrasing which have accompanied these rhythms since ancient times. Each composition narrates an experience or journey, continually changing depending on what story the musicians want to tell. Sometimes these experiences are personal, sometimes they are historical, sometimes they are a retelling of the past of the Nile and Nubian pyramids. Each musical journey creates a relationship between the storyteller (the band) and the audience. Waleed sings in over 15 African and Western languages, bringing the African diaspora to Toronto’s Black community.

Our goal is to bring African mentorship to Western Jazz Pedagogy, and we will use this workshop and concert series to help bring a different way of learning Rhythms to help inspire, educate and create a more well-rounded next generation of musicians and community members. We plan to continue to bring rhythm workshops to Toronto Communities, use the material that is in the concerts to record a full-length recording and write a pedagogical approach to teaching African Rhythms.