High Zero is the premier festival of Improvised, Experimental music on the East Coast, being fully devoted to new collaborations between the most inspired improvisors from around the world.
Lasting two weeks in total, the festival brings together 22 core musicians, but also involves a much larger subculture of musicians in Baltimore and on the East Coast. Unlike many related festivals, High Zero is not narrow in terms of sensibility or subculture, but rather widely inclusive of all the different types of experimental music-making in the moment. The fact that half of the festival's core participants are from Baltimore speaks to the depth of Baltimore's experimental music subculture, which in recent years has grown to be one of the richest cities in the country for experimental art.
The festival has a unique structure. HIGH ZERO is focused solely on new collaborations in freely improvised experimental music. Internationally famous musicians play side by side with younger "unknowns," united by their commitment to the musical imagination. Each year, Baltimore becomes a fertile meeting-ground for a large group of inspired players, drawn from a fascinating international subculture.
The festival exposes large audiences to this radical music in its pure form. Large-scale public concerts, recording sessions, workshops, and guerilla street performances are all part of the heady mix. The players are carefully selected by the festival's organizers for their intense, unique music, whether it is based around dramatic intensity, humor, specially designed instruments, original approach, raw sound, or nearly superhuman instrumental technique. The resulting collaborations challenge the limits of music and delight by their audacity, expressiveness, immediacy, and innovation. It isn't about stars or established projects; it is about the most uncompromising and stimulating new improvised music we can bring together.
credits
released September 9, 2019
All tracks mixed recorded and mixed by the High Zero Collective*
Tracks 1, 3, 4, and 7 mastered by Thomas Dimuzio
Tracks 2, 5, and 6 mastered by Jeff Carey
The High Zero Collective is currently:
Andrew Bernstein
CK Barlow
John Berndt
Tom Boram
Rose Burt
Sam Burt
Jeff Carey
Owen Gardner
Bonnie Jones
Jamal Moore
Stewart Mostofsky
Shelly Purdy
Paul Neidhardt
Jimmy Joe Roche
M.C. Schmidt
supported by 4 fans who also own “High Zero Festival”
One of the things that I love is the endless possibilities of texture and noise that a human voice/breath can make, and this album is astounding in the range that the artist explores. The Doll