STEVE TROMANS
Steve Tromans
Composer & Pianist
Steve Tromans is a composer and pianist based in the West Midlands (UK) - who composed a full length piece as part of our EXTRAPOLATE commissions.
The full length piece titled ‘tala++’ premiered at the Brimingham Symphony Hall in March 2025.
Steve has written over 200 works for a wide variety of different ensembles across a wide range of musical genres (including jazz, South Asian classical, Congolese, Cuban, Mongolian, folk-rock and contemporary classical). He studied composition with John Mayer, the legendary pioneer of Indo Jazz Fusions, toured India and Bangladesh with the newly reformed IJF, and composed three works for the band which feature on the albums Asian Airs, Ragatal and INJA. In 2020 Tromans was awarded a PhD from the University of Surrey with a thesis focused on an in-depth study of the nature and uses of rhythm, mixing analyses of his compositions and improvisations with theories and concepts of time (musical and philosophical). In 2023 Tromans' first book, Rhythmicity: Practice as Research in the Musical Philosophical, was published by Lexington Books, expanding on the content and focus of his doctoral thesis. To date, he has released over 50 albums showcasing his work in its diversity of approach and genre.
Steve's vision for Extrapolate:
"In a nutshell, to take the interrelation of South Asian music and jazz improvisation to a new level of creative entanglement. The work will be something entirely new for both fields of musical expression, and introduce audiences of both to completely novel ways of making music.
"I think the most exciting part of my music creation in this project is the deliberate intertwining of two different raags and two different talas, realised in each hand of my pianism and with the support of two tabla players expressing the two interlocking rhythmic systems (and tuned a fifth apart).
“It's going to be a fascinating and exciting process writing, rehearsing and performing the work!”
Follow Steve's Extrapolate Journey:
What is your piece called?
The title of the work is TALA++ and it’s written for piano and two tablas.
The title itself comes from the word tala which is from the Sanskrit being, coming, being in formation and tala is the basis of the rhythmic cycles of South Asian Classical music.
What makes it unique?
What I have done in this piece is I’ve created some new talas and I’ve also created some new scales, some new ways of approaching the raga systems.
What I’ve done, I thought well okay, I’ve got two hands so in my left hand, I’m using one of the thaats that build the ragas and I’m using Asavari on F. On my right hand, I’m using Bhairav on C. So you’ve got this tension set up between the two, between the one on F and the one on C, that’s like a fifth apart.
And with the two tablas, I’m having them tuned as well, one tuned to F and one tuned to C. So that’s also going to replicate that same sort of tension between the two. So you’ve got on one hand, literally, the left hand on the piano and the right hand on the piano and two tabla.
What inspired you to create this piece?
The inspiration for my piece, which is divided into three movements: medium, slow and fast, is rhythm itself. Rhythm is a thing that grounds us all, grounds all music, grounds all activities and it blurs distinctions between cultures and people and it kinds of unites us all in this rhythmical expression which is obviously at the very heart of music, no matter where that music comes from and also as they say, all arts and all cultures have this rhythmic ground.
The work is written. It is complete now, I’m happy to say. I’ve been working on it for a number of months and it’s been really wonderful to have the opportunity thanks to zerOclassikal to experiment in this way, to produce something that you would not necessarily hear in jazz and improvised music and also you would not hear in South Asian classical tradition.
I’m really excited to share it with you all.
In Conversation:
Watch our Artistic Director Jonathan Mayer's candid conversation with Steve about his finished composition and the next steps.