Ars Nova Workshop presents [Ahmed], the exploratory quartet of Pat Thomas, Seymour Wright, Joel Grip, and Antonin Gerbal, at Solar Myth on Monday, February 23, 2026.

[Ahmed] is the acclaimed quartet of Pat Thomas (piano), Joel Grip (double bass), Antonin Gerbal (drums) and Seymour Wright (alto saxophone). Together, the group re-arrange and re-imagine in real time the music of composer, bassist and oud player Ahmed Abdul-Malik (1927-1993). In a review of their 2024 release Giant Beauty, The Quietus calls [Ahmed], “one of the most mind-blowing free jazz and improvisation groups in the world today.”

Together, the members of [Ahmed] conjure music of heavy rhythm, repetition and syncopation set deep into an understanding of jazz and the obscure depths of its history; music that excavates, re-inhabits and uses a-new the now overlooked documents, and fragmentary plans, of Abdul-Malik’s mid-20th century synthetic vision to produce a new jazz imagination for the 21st century.