Maxime Lenssens
- Instruments : Drums
- Date of birth : 22/06/1976 - Gand
Started playing the drums at the age of 15 (after briefly experimenting on saxophone, bass and piano).
Came in contact with jazz while participating twice to a summer workshop organized by Jazz Studio (Antwerp).
At the age of 20 he went to New York to take private lessons with Billy Hart (Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock) and
Gene Lake (Steve Coleman, Me'Shell, Marcus Miller). After that, he took a few lessons from
Stéphane Galland (Aka Moon).
You could say that Maxime is self taught, apart from the fact that He's had a couple of private lessons.
Influences
Miles Davis and everyone who played with him, John Coltrane, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, Squarepusher, Aphex Twin, Jazzanova, The Roots, Eryka Badou, Meshell N'degeocello, Steve Coleman, Aka Moon, Chris Whitley, Lewis Taylor, Jeff Buckley, Oumou Sangaré, Zakir Hussain, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, Bob Marley, Black Uhuru, Israel Vibration, Hariprasad Chaurissa, D'angelo, Sizzla, Timbaland, Arto Lindsay, Björk and may others...
Drummers: Michael Bland, Gene Lake, Stéphane Galland, Poogie Bell, Sean Rickman, John Bonham, Tony Williams, Max Roach, Elvin Jones, Al Foster, Paco Sery, ....
Bands:
Maxime has been touring through out Belgium, France, The Netherlands, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Corsica, Kenya,
Marocco, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Madagascar, USA, Canada,..
Although his background is jazz, Maxime has always taken an interest in a wide variety of music. His first band was
a Jimi Hendrix-cover band, followed by a great number of bands, including:
- Dalton Drum Syndicate: (4 drummers-band) (rhythm)
- Tony O'Malley (UK): Soul (Recording+concerts)
- Mattis: Modern jazz
- Marco Locurcio band (I): Modern Jazz
- Rip Rhymes (F): Instrumental Funk/R'B
- Stéphane Mercier 5-tet: modern Jazz
- Freelance: Maxime shared the stage with:
- Tino Gonzalez (Guitarist for earth, wind & fire)
- Adam Phillips (Guitarist for Tina Turner, Lionel Ritchie,..)
- Takuya Nakamura (keyboards, trumpet for Arto Lindsey, Ravi Coltrane)
- Charles 'skipp' Pitts and Jimmy Kinard (Guitarist and bassist for Isaac Hayes)
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Pop/Rock/Urban
- Tom Robinson (UK) 2001 Tour (Singer/Songwriter)
- AxelleRed: concerts 2000tour+summer festivals (Belgian soul diva )
- Moiano: album recording, concerts and festivals (hip hop-soul)
- Zap Mama: Africa tour (Madagascar, Djibouti, Kenya,..) 1998 (urban ethnic)
- Pieter-Jan De Smet: album recording & live concerts 1999 (singer-songwriter)
- Alice's 5 Moons (Nicholas Thys): live concerts 1999 (jazz-R&B)
- Neeka: 'home from home' tour 2001 (double bill with tom robinson)
- Krewcial: live concerts, recording new album (hip-hop)
- Anton Walgraeve: Holland tour 2001 (singer/songwriter)
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Worked with a lot of African bands from Tunisia, Algeria, Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Rwanda, Nigeria, Congo, Burkina Faso, working with Béh Palm from Farafina, Feso from Fela Kuti, Dizzy Mandjecu from Oké-Jazz. Also played in a lot of Reggae bands.
Theatre:
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Dance:
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Electronic Music
KRETEK: Produced and performed in this project with Olivier Abbeloos, who sold millions of copies with 'T99' and
'Quadrophonia'(1988-1990 ). Three KRETEK Maxi singles were released.
- Cuisine Cajun - Le grand Dérangement - 1994 - Ferri Records
- The Petty Tyrants - Fear in the New Year - 1996 - Scissors Records
- Kretek - Car Samba (vinyl - maxi single) - 1997 - Lowlands
- C-Mos (vinyl - maxi single) - 1997 - Holographic Records
- Feso - Fesotivities - 1998 - Via Records
- Kretek - Boogaloo Inferno (vinyl maxi single) - 1998 - Lowlands
- Yage - Yage - 1999 - Kinky Star Records
- Mambo Chillum - 1999 - Kinky Star Records (African percussion)
- Tips for Trips - 1999 - Virgin Records
- Monsieur Ludo - 1999 - Big Time Records (vinyl maxi single)
- Don Croissant -2000 - Rowyna Records (EP-Vinyl)
- Moiano -2000 - Brick 9000 Records
- Moiano - 2001 Keep my heart with it - Brick 9000 Records
- Samya: Release 2003 (Trip Hop/Drum 'n Bass)
- Desta Haile: release of her debut album 2003 (Urban R'B)
Maxime has been teaching drums since 1997
In 2008 Maxime Lenssens, Belgian Drummer/Producer/Teacher has a busy year coming.
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TOURING/SESSIONS
He toured Europe with Garland Jeffreys last summer, appearing at festivals in Italy, Germany, Montreux jazz, Solidays, ) with Special guest Lou Reed performing on stage at Lokerse Feesten festival' (see youtube lou reed+Jeffreys) . More concerts with Garland are scheduled next summer.
MASTER CLASS
Maxime also was invited by top music schools in Thailand, he gave two successful master classes last year, more to come for a teaching tour through Asia in 2009.
Additional discography (for main discography : see top of page) :
Press:
The Dutch drummer magazine 'slagwerkkrant' published an article about Maxime's career.(January 2000 issue)
Maxime endorses:
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Zildjian Cymbals, Vic Firth Sticks, Remo drumheads and Tama Drums