Behind the Beat: Johannes Wallmann

Johannes Wallmann is a pianist, composer, and the Peterson Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Wallmann has recorded ten critically acclaimed albums as a leader, including Elegy for an Undiscovered Species, which was named a “Best of 2021” album by DownBeat magazine and described as “delightfully mind blowing throughout” by Midwest Record. DownBeat magazine has called Wallmann “a remarkable pianist and composer [whose] evocative compositions are brimming with melodic cogency and rhythmic pull” and called his playing “confident, muscular and elegant.” His latest album, Precarious Towers, was named a “Best of Bandcamp, June 2022” album, and Milwaukee’s Shepherd’s Express said: “Wallmann rises to precipitous heights in his 10th album, Precarious Towers, proving his ability to create a concept album, with extra-musical aspects streaming gracefully throughout.”

Born 1974 in Germany and raised on Canada’s Vancouver Island, Wallmann studied jazz piano and composition at Berklee College of Music and at New York University. Over twelve years in New York City and five years in Oakland, CA, he established himself as a versatile and in-demand sideman before moving to Wisconsin in 2012. Wallmann has toured throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, and has recorded or performed with Brian Lynch, Ralph Alessi, Seamus Blake, Gilad Hekselman, and Kevin Mahogany, among many others. He is a Yamaha piano artist, a Shifting Paradigm recording artist, and the recipient of two Canada Council grants, a 2019 Emily Mead Baldwin Award in the Creative Arts, and a 2021 H.I. Romnes Fellowship.