Johannes Wallman - Love Wins (2017)

Baritone Saxophone – Dayna Stephens; Bass – John Christensen (7); Drums – Devin Drobka; Guitar – Kenny Reichert; Piano – Johannes Wallmann; Tenor Saxophone – Dennis Mitcheltree; Trumpet – Russ Johnson; Voice – Rob DZ. Recorded at Audio for the Arts Madison, WI, August 18,19 & 20, 2015.

Born 1974 in Germany, Johannes Wallmann was raised on Canada's Vancouver Island. He studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston (B.Mus., 1995) and at New York University (M.A., 1997; Ph.D., 2010), while winning numerous national music competitions and scholarships, as well as two Canada Council artist grants. After moving to New York City in 1995, he quickly established himself as a versatile and in-demand sideman in a wide-range of musical styles.

Among the most experienced jazz educators of his generation, Wallmann taught at New York University (1996-2007) and the New School (2003-2007) before relocating to Oakland to lead the jazz studies program at California State University East Bay. In 2012, he moved to the University of Wisconsin to become Director of Jazz Studies and the inaugural holder of the John and Carolyn Peterson Chair in Jazz Studies at UW’s acclaimed Mead Witter School of Music.

Wallmann has recorded six critically acclaimed CDs as a leader: The Johannes Wallmann Quartet (1997), Alphabeticity (2003), Minor Prophets (2007), The Coasts (2010) and Always Something (2015). His 2015 quintet album, The Town Musicians (Fresh Sound New Talent FSNT-469), was named an Editors’ Pick by DownBeat Magazine, which called it a “stunning collage of jazz styles and genres” and “a harmonious album from a lifetime of diverse sounds and experiences.” Midwest Record called The Town Musicians “a sizzling session of sitting down jazz” and “music that meets on the corner of complex and accessible,” and the UK’s Jazz Journal wrote, “If I were responsible for an album as good as this, I’d be shouting about it.”