Born: November 2, 1957 Primary Instrument: Saxophone
Recording artist for Soul Note, Leo Records, Songlines Recordings, Between The Lines, 482 Music, Drimala Records a.o.
I released more than 35 CDs as a leader/co-leader.
I have been listed in Downbeat's Critics Poll in 2005 for the first time (Rising Stars Clarinet) and my CDs “Final Answer” and “The Big Band Project” received 4 1/2 stars and were listed in Downbeat with the best CD releases of 2004 and 2005.
Please go to my website for all infos, an extensive mp3 library, downloadable sheet music and photos, bio information and news, concert dates, a discography with covers/titles/soundsamples and liner-notes for every CD, a CD order form and much more. Website: www.gebhard-ullmann.com MySpace: www.myspace.com/gebhardullmann
Neil Tesser (Chicago Reader '02) about Gebhard Ullmann:
“ He has what critic Bill Shoemaker has called a 'razor-sharp diction' but he's also fluent in the smeary, loose-fitting phraseology that distinguishes the last quarter century of American reed work. He knows when to pull which tool out of the chest, and he uses the many devices at his disposal as means to an end, shaping his improvisations like a sculptor.”
Steven Loewy in Cadence Magazine (4/'05):
“ Few improvising artists can boast the stream of creative ideas that seem to bubble from Gebhard Ullmann. Ullmann focuses on the fundamentals of improvised jazz: melody, sound, syncopation and technical excellence, but what makes his writing and playing so successful is his seemingly neverending innovative nature: without grasping for neoteric straws, Ullmann's performances are grounded in the past but plunge forward deliberately toward modernity. Ullmann leaves the strong mark of a disciplined sculptor of sound, who speaks his own compelling language.”
Mark Patel in One Final Note (8/'05) about Gebhard Ullmann's CD releases:
“ While it would take other artists years to arrive at one of these albums, Ullmann has seemingly done it simultaneously. His music is a jumping-off point for the listener to take his sounds and textures, his colors and shapes and form them into something new and original with each listening. It is a gift, and one to be cherished in this era of commercialism and cookie-cutter art. The most we can ask of the creative musician is what Ullmann delivers, and that is to ask more of us, to take the work further and create endless possibilities which help us to accentuate, rather than escape from, our existence.”
