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OTTOMATIC SLIM stirs up the blues with a splash of R&B and a twist of rock & roll. The band takes pride in always providing a top-notch show of danceable high-energy blues.
Band leader Otto Lenz grew up seeing life from both sides of the tracks. As a diplomat's son, he had the dubious privilege of spending a portion of his childhood in some of the more dangerous parts of the Middle East. Attending an Iraqi school in the morning, in the afternoon Otto was allowed to play freely in the poverty stricken streets of Baghdad. Eventually, Otto and his family fled Baghdad through the Turkish mountains at the outbreak of the '67 war.
During his teens, Otto was to hitch hike through Europe, alone (he had his 17TH birthday on the road), surviving on the good graces of Malaysian mechanics, Afghani hashish dealers, French smugglers, and Swiss jazz musicians. It was during this time alone on the road that, ironically, Otto first was exposed to the recordings of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee:
"Someone that I met in my travels played me some American blues. I had attempted playing the harp prior to that, but couldn't get it at all. But when I heard Sonny and Brownie, I was stunned to discover that I could play along with them, fluently. . . In fact, I was able to improvise effortlessly and sound, not half bad. . . I knew right away that I had tapped into something that was bigger than me. . . I had accessed an ability that went beyond my years. . . This was not MY music that I was playing, rather, it was an art form that was available to me if I could only open my soul to it."
It also helped Otto when he discovered that he was a natural on the harmonica so long as he turned the instrument upside down (interestingly, Otto was to later learn that a couple of other guys held their harps upside down too, namely, Sonny Terry and Paul Butterfield).
As Otto developed his chops and increased his awareness of the blues as an art form, he began to understand why his grandfather, Chick Johnston, had devoted his life to playing guitar in some of the toughest of Chicago night clubs. Sadly, Chick was to go blind and die before Otto turned 18.
During his college years, Otto worked on a road crew in the deep South, and then in a foundry in the Northeast. Otto managed to once again get over-seas by returning to school. While attending classes in London, Otto spent all his free time checking out the vibrant jazz and R&B scene in London clubs. It wasn't long before he was "sitting in" with a variety of acts--while earning a little bit of money on the side, "busking" in the streets of London. What little spare time he had was spent in his room at a London boarding house listening to the well worn tape titled, "The Best of Little Walter" again, and again, and again. . .
Thirty years have passed since Otto first heard that record of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Since then he has ceaselessly pursued an advanced understanding of improvisational music. After putting in many years studying traditional approaches to the blues, Otto sought out and studied extensively with a variety of harmonica teachers, perhaps most notably the great Howard Levy. Today, a player in his own right with his own cutting edge style, Otto takes care to remember a quote from Charlie Musselwhite: "don't worry about sounding like anyone but yourself". He has fronted the King Bees, as well as Blues du Jour, and he has played as a side man for years for the Wildcat O'Halloran Band. Already, Otto's playing has been described as "tongue twisting" by Dirty Linen, "top notch" by Blues Revue, and his wild dance floor antics and powerful stage performance have been described as "masterful" by Blues Audience. He has opened for many national shows, including John Lee Hooker, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, Lonnie Brooks, Son Seal, and Joanna Connors. He has also been spotted sitting in with blues giants such as Kenny Neal, Sherman Robertson, Phillip Walker, and many others- Jon Butcher, and Charlie Farren in FBI. Now, for the first time, Otto brings you his own band:
OTTOMATIC SLIM
