Over the past fifty years, Canterbury House has hosted musical performances by a wide variety of forward-thinking, innovative “prophetic voices.” In the mid 1960s and early 1970s, the Concert Series featured now-legendary performers such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Richie Havens, and Gordon Lightfoot. More recently, the Series has featured regional acts, student and faculty ensembles, and internationally known artists drawing from jazz, contemporary classical, electronica, and other forms of improvised music. Artists such as Steve Swell, Oliver Lake and Peter Kowald are a sampling of the high level of music featured in this series.  If you are interested in playing at this historic, exciting and progressive venue, please review our booking policy (in PDF or in MS Word format) and contact our Concert Coordinator.

Concerts begin at 8 p.m.  Admission is $10 or $5 for students/seniors unless otherwise noted.

Halolos

Friday, January 9th

Halolos is a lounge pop band led by local singer-songwriter Laurel Chartow and fleshed out by well known faces on the Ann Arbor jazz scene - Matt Endahl (Rhodes), Tomek Miernowski (guitar), Andrew Kratzat (bass), Doug Stuart (bass), and Dan Sutherland (drums).  Their music has been praised as "enchanting and at times swooning kaleidoscope-pop" (Deep Cutz), "a swirled union of intertwining improvisation" (Real Detroit Weekly), and as "a sweet and fierce narrative of morphing pop tunes" (Current Magazine).  Drawing from wide-randing influences, Halolos brings Laurel's energetic, winsome songs to life through groove and improvisation.

Andrea Stokfisz

Tuesday, January 13th

Poetry meant to be heard and seen, not just read part Shakespearen theatre sensibility, part dramatic oratory, with a bit of "life is like that" comedy.

Glenn Tucker and the Cool Moose Orchestra

Friday, January 23rd*

Local saxophonist/arranger Glenn Tucker leads the Cool Moose Orchestra in a night of music written or inspired by the great Eddie Harris. The CMO is a student-organized 13-piece big band that features Ann Arbor's brightest young jazz musicians playing all originally arranged and composed music. On January 23rd, they perform a tribute to the legendary saxophonist and composer Eddie Harris, who is best known for his innovative forays between jazz, funk, world-music, and avant-garde idioms dating back to the 1960s.

*Admission for this night will be $7 for students, $10 general.

Michael Beauchamp and Susan Fawcett

Friday, February 6th

Michael Beauchamp and Susan Fawcett will be performing an assortment of original and traditional tunes on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and an eclectic array of other instruments.  Michael Beauchamp is a Kalamazoo songwriter who has recently emerged on the scene with lovelorn crooning and sorrowful warbling, deft-handedly accompanied by steady guitar picking.  He is responsible for some of the most imaginative and original songwriting heard in these parts, from biting melancholia to trash-can banging party tunes.  His latest album, My Northern Voices was recorded in the Jordan River valley with members of Breathe Owl Breathe last winter.  Susan Fawcett, a Petoskey native and Traverse City resident, is as comfortable playing original compositions on the fiddle, gritty blues on the harmonica, as singing ballads in Spanish with her Venezuelan cuatro.  A multi-instrumentalist at heart, she studies in the traditions of old-time fiddle tunes, klezmer and country blues. You can look forward to some lively instrumentals, maybe a waltz or two, and a handful of new tunes.

Jeff Parker and Sam Barsh

Friday, February 13th*

Jeff Parker and Sam Barsh re-join forces in Ann Arbor four years after last live performance!

Jeff Parker, renowned for his work with Tortoise and Isotope 217, and Sam Barsh, former member of the Avishai Cohen Trio and keyboardist for The Brand New Heavies, reunite 4 years after their last live performance together.  Though both are largely recognized for their work with the aforementioned groups, each has become a formidable leader of their own band.

For the past decade Parker has been a staple of the Chicago music scene, leading a number of solo projects and DJing at some of the windy city's hottest venues.  He has released 2 critically-acclaimed albums as a leader, the most recent of which, "The Relatives," (Thrill Jockey) features Barsh on keyboards.

In addition to performing in his home base of New York City, Barsh and his band recently toured China, the midwest, and California, and are headed to Miami and the Caribbean for performances in '09. Barsh's current album, "I Forgot What You Taught Me" (Razdaz), was released to rave reviews and profiled in a feature article in the September issue of Downbeat Magazine.

In this concert, Parker and Barsh will be joined by drummer Mikel Avery, and will be performing music from "The Relatives" as well as from "I Forgot What You Taught Me."

The evening will be openned with a set from trio Drunk Vinyl, featuring Tomek Miernowski, Andrew Kratzat and David Scalia.

*Admission for this night will be $10 for students, $15 general, and the show will start at 9pm.

Feast of the Senses

Friday, March 6th

SIGHT:
Christine Hucal- Art extraordinaire, Christine's artwork ranges from photography, to collage, to drawing. Her work is always beautiful and never without a sense of mystery. We know she'll make the Canterbury house look amazing.

TASTE and SMELL:
Mia di Tommaso- Mia worked at Zingerman's back in the day. Maybe this should have been a good indication to me that she loved food. It wasn't until this year I heard that she made hand-made candy and chocolate. This promises to be unique to our show at the Canterbury house.

TOUCH:
hoNey & the hoNey bees- Woody Goss, who also books for the Canterbury House, plays keys in his irreverent ensemble featuring many of the members from Dry County and Pear and the Pepper. With songs like "Touch My Fat", this promises to be an entertaining adventure. In between sets, hoNey will play and the hoNeybees, Christine Hucal and Marlee Cook-Parrot, will provide improvised "touch dances". This will encourage audience members to participate and ensure all their senses are stimulated!

AUDIO:
Laurel Premo- www.laurelpremo.com - Laurel opens the evening, and you can believe that she is great at pretty much everything. You will see her undeniable love for every music she plays, every style, every instrument, every song. Absolutely a cannot-miss set.

Pear and the Pepper- Pop meets experimentation in Doug Stuart's band. The music is groove oriented with two amazing drummers in Colin Campbell and Miguel McQuade. The bass lines are always catchy and deceptively tricky. Anyone who loves Jazz with an acute awareness for the pop-driven world around it needs to be there.

Dry County- Formerly the Dry County Boys, they have been gigging around Ann Arbor with their
indie-folk-pop music over the past year. Now a five-piece, the band sounds more dynamic
and colorful than ever. Their music is fun and engaging, audience members who have never
heard the songs usually find themselves singing along by the second refrain. This show
promises to be a rockin' good time and Dry County is extremely excited at how many of
their talented friends will be participating!

The illogical Spoon

Friday, March 13th

From Ypsilanti, these characters put together the sounds of folk with a ting of the hardcore, always with a thoughtful use of different instruments and timbres.  Sure to be an exciting performance!

The Andrew Kratzat Singers

Friday, March 20th

The Andrew Kratzat Singers are comprised of four musicians yanked from the Ann Arbor folk scene.  Laurel Premo graces the group with her fiddle and banjo stylings as well as her sweet vocals.  Tomek Miernowski accompanies on some ripping guitar.  Andrea Moreno-Beals, from Breathe Owl Breathe, adds cello and vocals of her own to the mix.  All of this is led by local bassist Andrew Kratzat as he morphs instrumentations and styles.  The singers will be performing works from Kratzat's originals to Sam Cooke and traditional English ballads.  Join us for the fun!

Cage Match

Friday, March 27th

The exciting new modern jazz group features University of Michigan jazz alumni Kate Olsen on saxophones, Matt Endahl on keyboards, Tim Cohen on drums, and Doug Stuart on bass.  For those who have heard of these musicians, you know this will be a night to remember!  For those in the dark, come see what all the talk is about!