High Zero is an annual festival, beginning in 1999, of Experimental

Free Improvised Music Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician(s) involved. The term can refer to both a technique (employed by any musician in any genre) and as a recognizable genre in its ...

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

, United States. It is hosted by the

Red Room Collective Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

, a volunteer group that sponsors weekly concerts in improvised music and experimental theater, film, poetry, etc. in a side room of Normals Books and Records. Since 2001, the festival has been hosted at Baltimore's Theatre Project space. The festival focuses on non-idiomatic improvisation, vocal improvisation, instrument building, electronics, sound art, and community events. The main theatre-based performances aim to bring together improvisers who typically have never played together previously into novel live situations in front of festival audiences, creating, potentially, a new experience for both audience and performer. High Zero draws from a large, international base of improvisors of many backgrounds, but traditionally gives half of the invitations for performance to Baltimore-based musicians. High Jinx, a part of the festival focused on site-specific and community events, is a unique appendix to the festival. Typical events include a musical bike ride, an invented instrument band, a parade through Fells Point, and other outdoor performances. The festival has yielded six CDs on the Recorded label, each based around a particular performer (in order of release:

Carol Genetti Carol E. Genetti (born 1961) is an American linguist who is known for her research into Tibeto-Burman languages and languages of the Himalayans. Her work into Newar language is the first comprehensive grammar, focusing on the Dolakhae dialect. H ...

Joe McPhee Joe McPhee (born November 3, 1939) is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist born in Miami, Florida, a player of tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, the trumpet, flugelhorn and valve trombone. McPhee grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, and is ...

Katt Hernandez KATT-FM (100.5 MHz, "ROCK 100.5 The KATT") is a commercial radio station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a mainstream rock radio format. The playlist leans toward hard-edged classic rock with some current and re ...

, Jack Wright, Oleyumi Thomas and

Neil Feather Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. A ...

), which have, as a result of the festival's format, yielded documents of scarcely documented performers, including

John Berndt John Berndt (born 1967) is a musician and organizer based in Baltimore, Maryland who is best known as an extended-technique experimental saxophonist and electronic musician. He participated in the second wave of the neoism cultural movement, the ...

, Paul Hoskins, John Dierker,

Jason Willett Jason Willett is an American musician, known largely for his work with experimental rock groups including Half Japanese, Can Openers, Pleasant Livers, X-Ray Eyes, The Dramatics (Martha Colburn and Jason Willett), The Jaunties, The Attitude Robots ...

Chet Pancake Chet Pancake is an American filmmaker and musician. He is a co-founder of the Red Room Collective, the High Zero Foundation, the Charm City Kitty Club and the Transmodern Festival. He is currently an assistant professor in the Film and Media Art ...

, James Coleman, Sean Meehan,

Michael Johnsen Michael John Johnsen (born 15 March 1964) is an Australian former politician who served in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the member for Upper Hunter for the Nationals from 2015 to 2021. Johnsen served as Mayor for the Upper Hun ...

, Jerry Lim,

Ian Nagoski Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in S ...

Dan Breen Daniel Breen (11 August 1894 – 27 December 1969) was a volunteer in the Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War. In later years he was a Fianna Fáil politician. Background Breen was born in Grange, ...

Dave Gross Dave Gross () is a game designer who has worked primarily on role-playing games. He is also a magazine editor, and has held the position of Editor-in-Chief at ''Star Wars Insider'' and at ''Amazing Stories''. Career Dave Gross, Michael Mikael ...

Andy Hayleck Andy may refer to: People *Andy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Horace Andy (born 1951), Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer born Horace Hinds *Katja Andy (1907–2013), German-American pianist and piano ...

Helena Espvall Helena Espvall is a Swedish-American musician noted for her participation in the post-millennial psychedelic folk and free improv scenes. Her primary instruments are cello, guitar and voice."Helena Espvall interviewed and introduced by Buck Cur ...

Evan Rapport Evan is both an English and Welsh male given name derived from "Iefan", a Welsh form for the name John. In other languages it could be compared to " Ivan", "Ian", and " Juan"; the name John itself is derived from the ancient Hebrew name Yəhô� ...

Keenan Lawler Keenan (Cianán) is a male Irish name which means "ancient, distant". ''Keenan'' is an Anglicisation of the Irish name ''Cianán'' which is a diminutive of ''Cian''. The Ó Cianáin clan (Keenan) were the traditional historians to the McGuire clan ...

Christopher Meeder Christopher is the English version of a Europe-wide name derived from the Greek name Χριστόφορος (''Christophoros'' or '' Christoforos''). The constituent parts are Χριστός (''Christós''), "Christ" or "Anointed", and φέρει� ...

, and Jim Baker.

Notable performers

*In 2005, Phil Minton, an internationally known vocal improvisor, performed and directed a Feral Choir at the festival.

External links

High Zero WebsiteThe Red RoomBaltimore's Theatre Project
{{Experimental music festivals Music festivals in Maryland Festivals in Baltimore