contact / booking: optah@gmx.de
opta, h is a free harsh jazz quartet based in Berlin
Otto Horvath - trombone
Thiébault Imm - guitar
Antti Virtaranta - double bass
Peter Schlewinski - drums

Multi award-winning Parisian pianist, composer and producer Benoit Delbecq figures among the prominent innovators of the international contemporary jazz scene who have build their own singular language in music. He has brought the soul of jazz to John Cage's prepared piano, when The New York Times depicts him as "a brilliant and unconventional French pianist" (Chinen). -- photo by Igor Juget. 
Benoit Delbecq is a founding member of Bureau de Son, a parisian non-profit and label (dStream) for new music.

SELK, are the alt-folk ensemble spearheaded by lead vocalist/songwriter Anna Jordan. Album ‘Shed The Skin’, released in June 2023 is SELK's most personal and accomplished work to date. The record moves is a stunning showcase of SELK’s unique style and talent, as it moves between full band intricate arrangements, to minimal evocative pieces stripping the sound back to it’s bare bones featuring only Anna on piano/guitar/loops with strings, or bass.

Their sound weaves between genres, drawing on jazz, classical, electronica, avant-folk, ambient rock, classical and more. SELK’s otherworldly sound juxtaposes Jordan’s stark, emotionally raw lyrics and hypnotic acoustic with percussive grooves from Cassidy and the band.

The group’s expanded line-up, now also featuring Barry Brady on guitar and Dave Redmond on bass, has added a powerful rhythm section that has transformed their sound since their debut album ‘Beast’, which was recorded as a duo (Anna Jordan and Dennis Cassidy). The album also features stunning string arrangements performed by cellist Kate Ellis and violinist Cora Venus Lunny (Crash Ensemble) scored by Judith Ring.

“The variety and beauty of ‘Shed the Skin’ cannot be understated… Deftly original, winsome
and thoughtful music.” – The Goo

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