London, 22

Identified by Serious

Composer and saxophonist Zem Audu was born in Nigeria and moved to England with his family when he was three. The son of a contemporary visual artist, he was encouraged to engage in creative pursuits and took up the guitar at an early age. Zem picked up the saxophone at secondary school and recently completed his training at Trinity College, London, where he studied under Jean Toussaint. He has also been taught and inspired by Courtney Pine, one of the UK’s foremost Jazz musicians. Zem is a member of Tomorrow’s Warriors, an education and development programme for young jazz artists founded by Gary Crosby. He has worked on several projects for Dune Music with artists such as Nu-Troop and Jazz Jamaica and has been a sideman for such artists as Frank McComb, Trevor Watkiss and Abram Wilson. Zem also leads and composes for his own jazz quartet.