saxophonist, composer
Music has accompanied Luka Zabric from an early age – following 6 years of playing recorder flute at the Edgar Willems Music Centre (GCEW, institute), he took up alto saxophone which carried him through 2 years of jazz education at the Conservatory for Music and Ballet Ljubljana, undergraduate jazz saxophone studies at the University of Graz (KUG) and postgraduate studies of Music Performance at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory (RMC) in Copenhagen. A seemingly set trajectory has been conveniently interrupted by artists like Hayden Chisholm, Lotte Anker, Kaja Draksler, Christine Abdelnour and others, who with their specific expression pried open the doors to sonorities and approaches beyond conventional forms of music education institutions.
Luka allocates a significant amount of attention to exploring peripheral corners of sound and sustaining strange sonorities beyond their natural lifespans of a moment or two. In doing so, improvisation paves the way, expands and finally morphs such inquiry into music. In the thicket of inter-dependent dynamics between his instrument, preparations and air masses, Luka seeks out unexpected moments, which he moulds and unfolds as far as imagination permits.
Luka Zabric, born 1997 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, is a musician, improviser and composer, currently based in Copenhagen, Denmark. Alongside frequent performing around Europe, he is a member of the CRRNT Collective (reads as ‘current’ in English), an international group active as a small label, a band and an organiser of concert series and festivals in Copenhagen.
Discography
· Yii – The trails of levitating creatures (CRRNT, 2025)
· Mass of Debris – Unspoken Remains (CRRNT, 2025)
· The Gatherers – Live in Osijek (Soundbrick Studio, 2024)
· Solo – Nebožder [Nebozhder] (CRRNT, 2023)
· The Gatherers – Cradled Cravings (CRRNT, 2023)
Current Projects
· Solo: Luka Zabric – (prepared) alto saxophone
· Yii: Laura Zöschg – voice, objects; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone, objects
· Mass of Debris: Luka Zabric – alto saxophone; Alfred Lykke – electric guitar; Hein Westgaard – electric guitar; Tomás Gubbins – electric guitar
· Luk i strela: Nikola Vuković – prepared (pocket) trumpet; Luka Zabric – prepared alto saxophone
· cičići: Nikola Vuković – (pocket) trumpet; Jure Boršič – alto saxophone; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone
· The Gatherers: Nikola Vuković – (pocket) trumpet; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone; Tin Džaferović – double bass; Luís Oliveira – drums
· Undercurrent: Flavia Huarachi – voice, flute; Laura Zöschg – voice, flute; Ben Rodney – (pocket) trumpet; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone; Jon Sensmeier – tenor saxophone; Aurelijus Užameckis – double bass; Ivar Asheim – drums
· ArcanePunk: Aurelijus Užameckis – electric bass guitar, double bass; Simon Albertsen –drums, sampler; Tomás Gubbins – electric guitar; Michaela Turcerová – alto saxophone, electronics (noise machine), recorder flute; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone, synthesiser, recorder flute
Past projects
· Oswald | Užameckis | Zabric: Margaux Oswald – piano; Aurelijus Užameckis – double bass; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone (2022-2024)
· a.formal decay: Štefan Szabó – electric guitar; Ivar Asheim – drums; Luka Zabric – alto saxophone (2020-2021)
Sound piece collaborations & commissions
· Skirpá, 2025: site-specific piece for the »Immaterial Salon« online catalogue in collaboration with Andrea Zabric and Alexandra Toth
· Spectrals [working title] – site specific commissioned piece for 3 saxophones, sine waves and bells of the Old Castle in Banská Štiavnica (SK), premiered at the 2023 edition of the n:ear experimental music festival. To be released on vinyl in July 2026.
Other activities
CRRNT Collective (2022- ) is an international musicians’ collective based in Copenhagen. Since December 2022, it has been organising concert series and festivals, releasing new music by artists from within as well as outside of the collective under its own label, and since more recently working as a band ‘Undercurrent’, with which they conducted a series of residencies and tours in Slovenia/Croatia (2024), Lithuania (2025) and Italy/Switzerland (2026).
Interview at Radio Študent (January 2024): GRŠ intervju: CRRNT
Undercurrent – live in Blaagaards Plads teaser
Reviews
Mass of Debris: Unspoken Remains | MLADINA.si – in Slovenian
The Gatherers (live at the 21st edition of the Jazztopad festival, Wrocław (PL)) – in English:
Awards
First prize of the Jazzon 2024 open call for compositions with the composition »Skitnička suita«
Selected artist with the project The Gatherers for the Creative Europe Footprints 2022 programme
About the winning composition ‘Skitnička Suita’ of the Jazzon 2024 open call by some of the international jury’s members – in English:
My top pick since the get go, Skitnička Suita impressed me as a heartfelt tribute to avantgarde jazz in the vein of Sun Ra and similar visionaries, though it never comes across as derivative. It strikes the perfect balance between structured and improvised, serious and mischievous, intellectual and emotive, academic and edgy, exactly in the way the best kind of jazz should do. The sequencing between various parts is brilliant, and the build up to the final section really captures your imagination. Really looking forward to hearing its studio version anytime soon.
– Jaša Bužinel
Brave and original music, with plenty of room for improvisation. A chart that forces the musicians to listen to and interact with each other carefully. Lots of interesting ideas, including Morton Feldman-type techniques where the musicians decide on the number of repeats per bar. The more cerebral first part is balanced with a celebratory, joyful jazzdance party. Although there is an inherent risk in this type of music for things to become overly intellectual or pretentious, this is never the case here. Each idea serves a musical purpose, and the band sounds like a collective. A great example of the added value of improvisation to music.
– Reinier Baas
Links
Solo:
Yii:
https://youtu.be/KWwtCRV8y8M?si=UHwvqDg6yMvRH9Cp
The Gatherers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Y9PhFEqlVE&list=PLOBOtaOzTtEwzzPthi2f48uA-QC7uLW1N&index=2
Luk i Strela: