Composer and pianist Johannes Wallmann is a twelve-year veteran of the New York jazz scene. Wallmann’s distinctive compositions capture the energy, excitement, and diversity of that city, juxtaposing complex, new harmonies with ebullient grooves and joyfully exuberant melodies. The two-time Canada Council Artist Grant recipient performs locally, nationally, and internationally with his own group and as a sideman, while also teaching jazz improvisation and theory at the New School and New York University.
Born in Germany, Johannes Wallmann was raised on Canada's Vancouver Island, where he studied classical piano and guitar. Deciding to pursue a career in music, Johannes moved first to Boston and then New York City, where he studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music (B.Mus., 1995) and New York University (M.A., 1997), winning numerous national music competitions and scholarships, as well as two Canada Council artist grants.
In New York, Wallmann has established himself as a prolific performer on the jazz and new music scene, performing styles as diverse as acoustic chamber jazz and hard-hitting electric fusion, American spirituals, Cantonese pop music, and 20th century classical music. His own groups have been actively performing throughout New York City and along the East Coast at venues such as Birdland, the Blue Water Grill, the 55 Bar, Renee Weiler Hall, Kavehaz, and the Greenroom. The group has released two previous CDs, The Johannes Wallmann Quartet, and Alphabeticity, which featured saxophonist Seamus Blake, to critical acclaim.
Wallmann has also performed or recorded with many other artists, including the Dennis Mitcheltree Quartet, the Harlem Spiritual Ensemble, the American Music Group, jazz tubaist Howard Johnson, drummers Jeff Hirshfield, Danny Gottlieb, and Tim Horner, bassists Jeff Andrews and Martin Wind, saxophonists Gary Bartz, Seamus Blake, and Pete Yellin, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, guitarist Brad Shepik, operatic tenor Dr. Francois Clemmons, the Billings Symphony Orchestra, and Canto-pop star Faye Wong.
Johannes Wallmann has toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including several national tours with the Dennis Mitcheltree Quartet, as well as performances at Carnegie Hall, Merkin Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and the Brooklyn Conservatory (New York City), Massey Hall (Toronto), the Coleman Hawkins Jazz Festival (Topeka, KS), the Hong Kong Coliseum, Pacific Coliseum (Vancouver), and the SkyReach Center (Edmonton), the Taj Mahal (Atlantic City), and in jazz clubs throughout North America.
In addition to performing, Wallmann teaches jazz piano, improvisation and music theory at New York University and at the New School. In 2005, he was named “Music Teacher of the Year†by the students of New York University. He is also a Ph.D. fellow in jazz studies at NYU, where he is currently working on a dissertation on the music of Herbie Hancock. Wallmann is a recent recipient of a composition grant from the Canada Council for the Arts for his Imperial Suite for Jazz Brasstet, featuring Ingrid Jensen.
