zaum
ZAUM is music instantly conceived and played by great improvisers from wildly contrasting musical backgrounds. Initially put together by Steve in the autumn of 2002 to record a first album for SLAM, the group, which was always intended to involve a shifting number of personnel working together in a variety of musical settings, has continued to flourish and develop.
"The last thing I wanted it to sound like was the perceived notion of jazz or anything else for that matter" says Steve
"Each performance, be it a duo or the full or expanded group, starts with a clean sheet. It's a bit of a cliche, but it really is like a journey that we want to take with each other and the audience. And we're all driving the bus!"
"Without any exaggeration I can say that some of the playing is the best I've ever heard in British improvised music....I am amazed!" Leo Feigin, Leo Records
Former pupil of the Yehudi Menhuin School, Cathy Stevens played with the English Chamber Orchestra and London Sinfonietta and is currently a sometimes member of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. She is however, an intuitive improviser and since the 80’s has been involved in free improvisation and group composition.
Hailing from Berlin, Udo Dzierzanowski has a grounding in experimental rock. He worked with a number of bands and musicians in Germany before coming to England in the early 90’s. Dzierzanowski and Stevens play together in the Europa String Choir and work with Robert Fripp’s Guitar Craft. With Harris and Stevens, Dzierzanowski is a founder member of the experimental music collective ‘safehouse’.
Geoff Hearn is a long time associate of Steve Harris. He came to improvised music through r’n’b and jazz, has recently collaborated with Yoruba musicians and is currently studying Japanese Shakuhachi music. He leads his own group and continues to be a major and individual voice on the British improvising scene.
Karen Wimhurst has had commissions performed by the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, Grimethorpe Brass Band and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with whom she is currently working on a newly commissioned piece, ‘Code Electric’. She formed the highly acclaimed Cauld Blast Orchestra with Scottish traditional, classical and jazz musicians.
Adrian Newton (The Scientist) has been involved in electroacoustic music for the past 20 years. More recently he has produced a series of recordings with The Sonic Arts Network, the Cambridge based experimental arts collective LEAPS and works with the Safehouse collective in Poole. In performance with ZAUM he uses a combination of live and found samples.
view recordings
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