Zu

“You have created a powerful and expressive music that totally blows away what most bands do these days.”—John Zorn

This power-packed Italian group—Massimo Pupillo bass, Jacopo Battaglia drums, and Luca Mai saxophones—burst onto the scene back in 1999 with the release of their debut CD, Bromio (Wide). The potent mix of tightly arranged, jazz-influenced hard core and free improv mayhem soon had audiences, critics, and musicians like John Zorn raving about the trio. Simultaneously hilarious yet reflective, these guys love to take familiar material by Mingus, Jobim, Iron Maiden, James Brown, Motörhead, Kraftwerk, and others and butt-kick it into amazing new shapes while maintaining some semblance of its original appeal. Think of ’70s King Crimson fusing free jazz with thrash rock with the intensity of a hurricane. Members of Zu have collaborated with the likes of Eugene Chadbourne, Fred Lonberg-Holm, Jeb Bishop, Han Bennink, and members of the ICP Orchestra and have recently recorded with Ken Vandermark.