Johannes Wallmann

Johannes Wallmann’s fourth album as a leader features his NYC-based Brasstet, an innovative ensemble comprised of three brass (Ralph Alessi, trumpet; Josh Roseman, trombone; and Marcus Rojas, tuba) together with a rhythm section of bassist Sean Conly, drummer Fred Kennedy, and Wallmann on piano (Wallmann’s working piano trio for much of the past decade). The group’s instrumentation is nimble enough to allow for highly interactive ensemble play (such as the New Orleans-inspired collective improvisation of “The Sweet Minute”), yet rich enough in timbre to suggest a much larger brass choir (“Looms in the Mist”).

Following two prior suites composed for the Brasstet, the “America Suite” (2001), which explored the tradition of American Spirituals, and the “Imperial Suite” (2003), a more aggressively avant-garde anti-war statement (both of which were commissioned by the North River Music, a series of new music presented at Renee Weiler Recital Hall in NYC), Wallmann’s third suite for the Brasstet was inspired by his impressions of coastal communities. “The Coasts” was composed shortly after Wallmann, who grew up on Canada’s Vancouver Island moved back to the West Coast (San Francisco Bay Area) after 15 years on the East Coast (Boston and New York).

Coastal life, both rural and urban, is shaped by rhythms imposed by the ebb and flow of the oceans and by the human connection to the oceans as a source of food, transportation, employment, adventure, and identity. In a world of rising oceans and drying land, Wallmann’s music finds inspiration in elements both timeless and current. While the personnel of the Brasstet has changed over the years, the group has always featured some of the finest creative improvisers in New York. The current edition draws heavily on some of the downtown jazz scene’s most accomplished performers, who navigate even the more complex odd-meter compositions of “The Coasts” with ease and playfulness.

Born in Münster, Germany, Wallmann grew up on Canada's Vancouver Island, where he studied classical piano and guitar. Deciding to study and pursue a career in music, Wallmann moved first to Boston (Berklee College of Music) and then New York City (New York University, Ph.D. in jazz studies, ’10). In New York, he performed or recorded with 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, operatic tenor Dr. Francois Clemmons, the Billings Symphony Orchestra, and Canto-pop star Faye Wong. A two-time Canada Council artist grant recipient, Wallmann has also toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

A fervent advocate for music education, Wallmann relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007 to take up an appointment Director of Jazz Studies at California State University, East Bay (he previously taught at New York University and at the New School for Jazz). He continues to perform frequently on both coasts of the U.S. and Canada. Prior to "The Coasts," he released three critically acclaimed CDs, "The Johannes Wallmann Quartet" (1997), "Alphabeticity" (2003), and "Minor Prophets" (2007), a program of all original compositions that Cadence Magazine describes as a "glowing statement of rippling inventiveness." Wallmann’s distinctive compositions juxtapose complex, new harmonies with ebullient grooves and joyfully exuberant melodies.

Awards

New Faculty Development Grant, California State University, East Bay, 2007 New York University: “Music Teacher of the Year,” 2005 New York University Founders’ Fellowship - Three-year fellowship for Ph.D. study, 2001 Canada Council for the Arts: CAN $15,000 research and composition grant; 2000 British Columbia Council for the Arts: senior grant recipient; 1996 Eubie Blake Foundation Scholarship recipient; 1996 "Best All-Around Keyboardist" Award, Berklee College of Music; 1995 John Dankworth Jazz Composition Award, Berklee College of Music; 1995 Canada Council for the Arts: Artist Project Grant "B" for CAN $17,000; 1993 Full Scholarship, Berklee College of Music; 1992-95