Eric Schirtzinger
Johanne Wallman Quintet from left to right: Dayna Stephens (saxophone), Johannes Wallmann (piano), Colin Stranahan (drums), Brian Lynch (trumpet), and Matt Pavolka (bass).
With Day and Night, Johannes Wallmann didn’t just create a new record, he organized a little reunion for himself.
The pianist, composer, bandleader and director of jazz studies at UW-Madison gathered some of his New York City colleagues and collaborators last summer and the result is his eighth album.
Day and Night, which is being released Nov. 2 on Paradigm Records, is a combination of
original compositions and jazz standards, including tunes from Thelonious Monk, Cole Porter and Duke Ellington.
Wallmann’s compositions range from “Press Briefing,”his interpretation of the madness of a White House press conference, to a tune inspired by his daughter’s first steps called, appropriately, “Toddlin’.”
Wallmann built the quintet with saxophonist Dayna Stephens in mind, wanting to work with him on a full album. Grammy-winning trumpet player Brian Lynch, a Milwaukee native who taught with Wallmann at NYU, joins them.
“They’re both incredible players but they have such contrasting styles,” says Wallmann, who performed and taught in New York early in his career. “Brian is all fire, and Dayna is so cool with his breathy, mellow sound.”
Another Wallmann tune, “No Blues for No One” tips its hat to jazz legend Art Blakey, and to Lynch, who was in the final lineup of Blakey’s famed Jazz Messengers.
Rounding out the quintet are bassist Matt Pavolka and drummer Colin Stranahan.
The album’s release party is Nov. 11 at North Street Cabaret, and will also feature a performance by Wallmann’s locally based Johannes Wallmann Quintet.
