Bennink/West/Ex

Zaandam, The Netherlands/ Toronto, ON

Every year at Sled Island there is at least one band who seem to fly completely under the radar until they hit the stage, at which point the small crowd in attendance speaks of them with such reverence and fanaticism that you feel like you missed out on the biggest show of the festival. Last year it was Adebisi Shank. Fair warning – this year it is Bennink/West/Ex. The unlikely trio of jaw-droppingly good absurdist Dutch jazz drummer and I.C.P.Orchestra founder Han Bennink, Brodie West, the well-loved Toronto saxophonist and collaborator with such acts as Broken Social Scene and The Mohammed Jimmy Mohammed Trio and Terrie Ex, guitarist of legendary experimental punk band The Ex, play raw improvised music that could fit equally well in a dingy punk basement show as in a smoky jazz club. This is a special one.