Monday 27 November 2023, 7.30pm
Pleased to welcome back Lean Left for a two-day residency; their first OTO shows in 5 years. Joining them will be very special guests Maggie Nicols (day one) and Steve Beresford (day two).
Lean Left throws together two explosive duos - the sax/drums collision course of Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love with the pile-driving guitarists from The Ex - to make up a positively apocalyptic quartet: an elemental musical force featuring Grade A international players zoning in and scrambling together rock, jazz, noise and blistering free improv into a highly-charged onstage assault, each member taking their sounds and bodies to the edge and often snapping out of the wilds and into glorious passages of regular rhythm. The foursome crashes along sometimes creating a cacophonous racket but always musical and always ready to change direction or turn a new corner. The music of Lean Left is extroverted, energetic, powerful and inclusive but also confrontational and provocative: where rhythm, noise, melody and harmony melt together in perfect union. Or as Stewart Lee stated about the band, "jazz theorizing be damned, its like being 18 again."
“Lean Left are a lethal combination of radical commitment, sonic intensity and breathtaking fluency from four musicians who, between them, have rarely strayed from the outermost borders of jazz and punk... The density, clarity and balance maintained throughout the two sets was a breathtaking reminder that this stormy, industrial territory is where many of the most pressing questions are asked of the structure and content of jazz today.” – Geoff Winston, LondonJazz
“If there was any likelihood you might forget you'd spent the evening at a gig by veteran Dutch noise-guitarists the Ex Guitars and free-jazz improvisers Ken Vandermark and Paal Nilssen-Love, the humming in your ears for the rest of the night keeps you posted. Chicago saxophonist and clarinetist Vandermark and Norwegian drummer Nilssen-Love periodically explore this full-on collision with the fearless electric-guitar duo under the name Lean Left, and at volume levels that practically dismantle the furniture.” – The Guardian
- Terrie Ex / left guitar
- Ken Vandermark / tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, B clarinet
- Paal Nilssen Love / Drums
- Andy Moor / right guitar
Nilssen-Love has, during the last couple of years, established himself on the international scene as a powerful drummer with high energy and creativity. In 2002 he was "Artist in Residence" at Molde International Jazz Festival, a title Chick Corea and Pat Metheny held in previous years. After 7 days and 9 concerts at the festival, Down Beat stated, "His week at Molde proved a revelation: Nilssen-Love is one of the most innovative, dynamic and versatile drummers in jazz."
Vandermark is also known for the work with his own quintet the Vandermark 5, the Peter Brötzmann Chicago Tentet, the Territory Band, Spaceways Inc., and the DKV Trio. In 1999 Vandermark was awarded the MacArthur Fellowship, previous recipients of this prize in the field of music include Cecil Taylor, Anthony Braxton and Max Roach. He has also been was voted ”Talent Deserving Wider Recognition” in the critic's poll of the American jazz magazine Down Beat, both as composer and as a tenor saxophonist, every year since 2000.
“Vandermark can scorch paint with a sax.” – The Guardian
www.kenvandermark.com
Terrie Hessels started playing guitar when he co-founded the Ex in 1979. Kind of coincidence; it was the instrument no-one wanted to play. Some 1900 concerts with The Ex ever since. More than 2000 in total.
Next to all The Ex releases, he started free-improvising from the very start. From a little guitarsolo on the Awara/Ex 7" in 1981, till recent tours with Han Bennink or impro-groups Offonoff or LeanLeft (with Ken Vandermark, Andy and Paal Nilssen-Love).
Drives a year along 21 African countries, with Emma Fischer. In 1996. Starts in 2000 the TERP label, for his own impro-projects and African Music. Produced Cd's with ao Tsehaytu Beraki, Getatchew Mekuria, Konono No.1 and Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed. 25 releases thus far. (www.terprecords.nl)
Lives with Emma Fischer and daughter Lena (13) in the Witte Villa in Wormer.
Played with: Sonic Youth, John Cale, Getatchew Mekuria, Herman Brood, Herr Seele, Kamagurka, Jan Mulder, Mekons, Chumbawamba, Tsehaytu Beraki, Peter Brozmann, Hamid Drake, Jan Akkerman, Djibril Diabate, Butch Morris, Mats Gustafsson, ICP, Wolter Wierbos, Wilbert de Joode, Zu, Guy Picciotto, Roy Paci, Cactus Truck, Christine Senaoui, Ig Henneman, Tim Hodgekinson, Michael Vatcher, Magpie Dancecompany, Alex d' Electrique, Ferrie Heyne, Saadet Turkoz, Peter Evans, Nate Wooley, Melaku Belay, Endris Hassen, Misale Legesse, Noel Akchote, Akira Sakata, Ada Rave, Jamie Breezy Branch
Born in London England 1962 Andy began his musical life in Edinburgh, Scotland playing guitar with the band Dog Faced Hermans, In 1990 he moved to the Netherlands after an invitation to join Dutch band The Ex whuch he is still a full time member of.
In more recent years Andy has collaborated with amongst others Yannis Kyriakides (Cypriot composer)), Anne James Chaton (french sound poet), Christine Abdelnour (Lebanese Paris based saxaphonist). He has also worked composing soundtracks for films with Iranian filmaker Bani Khoshnoudi. His latest projects include a quartet with Ken Vandermark , Terrie Ex and Paal Nilssen Love called Lean Left. The Heretics project with Anne James Chaton more recently with the departure of Thurston Moore has become a duo project which they began touring n 2017. In November 2019 Andy began a new project with Marion Coutts from Dog Faced Hermans . In 2020 he began a duo with Scottish composer and performance artist Genevieve Murphy called “The One I feed “ with guitar text and reel to reel tape machine.. End of 2021 also saw Andy begin work as a live DJ and radio producer as DJ ANDY EX) and has been working with Amsterdam based Echobox Radio and does a live show every four weeks on a Friday. The shows are all archived on Mixcloud and is called Blueprints For A Blackout.
Maggie Nicols joined London's legendary Spontaneous Music Ensemble in 1968 as a free improvisation vocalist. She then became active running voice workshops with an involvement in local experimental theatre. She later joined the group Centipede, led by Keith Tippets and in 1977, with musician/composer Lindsay Cooper, formed the remarkable Feminist Improvising Group. She continues performing and recording challenging and beautiful work, in music and theatre, either in collaborations with a range of artists (Irene Schweitzer, Joelle Leandre, Ken Hyder, Caroline Kraabel) as well as solo.
