LEO CIESA


Drummer Composer Educator




BIO





Leo Ciesa is a drummer, composer and educator based in New York

City. He is known for the New York City hardcore jazz duo ICONOCLAST (www.iconoclastnyc.com), which he co-founded with saxofonist Julie Joslyn in 1987, and also for being a longtime member of Nick Didkovsky's 8 piece avant rock ensemble DOCTOR NERVE (www.doctornerve.org) which he joined in 1988.

Ciesa also has a solo project that became "COAT OF ARMS - MUSIC FOR SOLO DRUMSET", a 50 minute CD with 22 solo pieces.


With Iconoclast and Doctor Nerve he has made numerous albums and has toured all over the USA, Canada and Europe including many renowned festivals, such as: Moers Jazzfestival and Zappanale Festival in Germany - Sziget Festival in Hungary - Jazz Od Nowa Festival, Audio Art Festival and Festival Muzyka z Mozgu in Poland - Ring Ring Festival and Interzone International Festival in Serbia -Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV) in Canada - Rock In Opposition Festival, Festival Musique Innovatrices, Music Action and Festival Mimi in France - Avant Garde Jazzfestival and Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival in Italy - Festival de la Cite in Switzerland - Pohyb-Zvuk-Prostor Festival in the Czech Republic - ProgDay, Music With a View, The DUMBO Arts Festival and NYU Independent Music Fest in the USA etc. Both bands have also been featured on various radio and television shows. Ciesa performed regularly at the legendary NYC clubs "CBGB" and the original "Knitting Factory". Leo Ciesa has been a ProMark drumsticks and mallets endorser since 1996.






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Leo Ciesa is known for his personal style and his powerful, melodic, polyrhythmic, emotional and virtuosic drumming that is infused with curiosity and spontaneity. In Iconoclast he also plays keyboards, sometimes simultaneously with the drums.


"... a top percussionist of the New York jazz/rock (neo)-avant-garde scene, who can effectively take on the role of an entire rhythm section with his imaginative exploitation of instruments to create both melodic and virtuosic rhythmic parts ..." A Dorobeck, Jazz Forum


Ciesa has received grants from Meet the Composer and from Arts International: The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, and is a recipient of an Artist's Fellowship in Music Composition from the New York Foundation for the Arts.


Leo Ciesa is in the Encyclopedia of Jazz Musicians by Lewis Porter.




SELECT DISCOGRAPHY





LEO CIESA solo:
Coat of Arms - Music for solo drumset 2012

With ICONOCLAST:
Cobalt Confidential 2025
Demolition of Wisdom 2022
Driven to Defiance 2017
Naked Rapture 2014
Dirty Jazz 2010
The Body Never Lies 2006
The Dreadful Dance 2005
In the Vodka Garden 2005
Paradise 2000
Blood is Red 1995
The Speed of Desire 1992
City of Temptation 1990
Sins of New York 1989

With DOCTOR NERVE:
Loud 2019
The Gift of Shame 2012
The Monkey Farm 2009
Ereia 2000
Every Screaming Ear 1997
Skin 1995
Beta 14 OK 1991
Did Sprinting Die? 1990

OTHERS:
Compilations with Iconoclast:
Quién puede matar a un niño? 2025
ARRGGGHHHH!!!! by Antonio Murga 2024
Milagros Santánicos II by Antonio Murga 2023
The NYFA Collection: 25 Years of New York New Music 2010
Mocvara 2002
Transforms - The Nerve Events Project 1993

Compilation with Doctor Nerve:
Live at the Knitting Factory, Vol.3 1990
Ciesa can also be heard on:
Now I Do This 2021/1982 by Nick Didkovsky
Change 2002 by Larry Polansky
Out of My Face 2000 by Micro East Collective





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