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Sebastien Ammann

Born in 1981, Sebastien Ammann started piano lessons at age 7 in his hometown of Geneva (Switzerland). In 2006, he obtained his Teaching Diploma (with congratulations of the jury) from the AMR Professional Jazz School in Geneva. In 2003, he was awarded a grant from the Friedlwald Stiftung Foundation in Zürich (Switzerland), a foundation that rewards special scholarships to promising Swiss artists. While in Geneva, Sebastien Ammann performed with internationally known artists such as Maurice Magnoni, Stefano Saccon, Jeff Baud, Béatrice Graff, Manu Hagmann, David Meier and Rafi Schilt. He lead his own band “Schwytzromand Formula” which brought together two musicians from the German part and two musicians from the French part of Switzerland, as a way to erase the language barrier. He also collaborated with a large number of bands performing in various parts of Europe (Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy) and the United states. In 2006, he recorded his first album “Orange” (2006) with the Ammann Trio (featuring bassist Manu Hagmann and drummer Rodolphe Loubatière). In 2008, while in New York, he studied privately with Jacob Sacks, Marc Copland, Fred Hersch and Garry Dial.

Sebastien Ammann graduated with a Master degree in Jazz Performance from Queens College (New York) in February 2011 after studying with David Berkman, Antonio Hart, Michael Mossman and Howard Brofsky. During his studies, he was awarded the Sir Roland Hanna Fellowship award in recognition of special achievement.

Sebastien Ammann is the leader of Sebastien Ammann’s Color Wheel, a band featuring some of New York’s most interesting and fearless improvisers, saxophonist Michaël Attias (Renku, Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian), bassist Noah Garabedian (Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew D’Angelo) and drummer Nathan Ellman-Bell (Michael Formanek, Uri Caine, Dave Douglas). The first album Color Wheel (Skirl Records, 2017) was very well received by numerous publications both in America and internationally including Downbeat Magazine and Something Else!

Mr. Ammann is also the leader of the Sebastien Ammann Quartet featuring fellow Swiss saxophonist Ohad Talmor, bassist David Ambrosio and drummer Eric McPherson. Their first album Samadhi (Freshsound New Talent, 2013) was released in 2013. The band toured Europe (Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, France) in March 2014.

Sebastien Ammann is a member of the Jake Leckie Quartet, a band lead by bassist Jake Leckie and featuring some great New York musicians; Kenny Warren on trumpet, Sebastien Ammann on piano and Nathan Ellman-Bell on drums. The theme of this music is the migration of people. It is a meditation on understanding, empathy, and integration. The band is preparing to record their first album before a promotional tour in October 2018.

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Album Review

Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience

Read "Resilience" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Lo svizzero Sebastien Ammann, di professione pianista e compositore, guida in questo elegante, solido album un quintetto dalle geometrie ben definite e dai percorsi espressivo-espositivi conseguenti. Magari non vi si respirerà tutta l'originalità di questa terra, ma il lavoro d'insieme (soprattutto) è ottimamente congegnato e condotto, e sul piano solistico tutto procede analogamente, col trombone di Samuel Blaser una spanna sopra gli altri (peraltro sempre all'altezza della situazione). Subito l'iniziale “Yayoi" ci introduce eloquentemente entro i meandri ...

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Album Review

Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience

Read "Resilience" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Pianist Sebastien Ammann is originally from Switzerland but has been part of the New York City jazz scene since 2008, collaborating with musicians such as Kris Davis, Tony Malaby, Ohad Talmor and George Schuller. His current main focus is on his quintet, Color Wheel, whose second album is a kaleidoscope of fresh sounds and interesting musical combinations. Ammann's compositions often have spiky surfaces carved out by saxophonist Michael Attias and trombonist Samuel Blaser which are then made palpable ...

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Album Review

Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel: Resilience

Read "Resilience" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Stark, abstract inquiries are fashioned, some resolved, some left hanging, in the jarring and resolute music of Swiss-pianist Sebastien Ammann's Color Wheel. With an uncanny ability to command the moment, Ammann and his equally inspired mates—Michael Attias on saxophone, bassistNoah Garabedian, trombonist Samuel Blaser and drummerNathan Ellman-Bell—take the moment and throw in a ton of turbulence and false leads and still close the deal. Quite nicely too. For the nine Ammann-imagined tracks on Resilience, Color Wheel's cart-wheeling follow-up to its ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Sebastien Ammann’s Color Wheel, Kenny Warren Trio and More

Read "Sebastien Ammann’s Color Wheel, Kenny Warren Trio and More" reviewed by Maurice Hogue


I doubt you would get much argument that trumpet players Herb Robertson and Dave Ballou, bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey are among the finest of their generation. When Robertson and Ballou decided to form a quartet back in 2005, those four musical minds coming together pretty much assured some magic would happen. In 2007 The MacroQuarktet was booked into The Stone in NY; the performance was their first public appearance and as it turned out, completely unrehearsed and ...

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Album Review

Gene Ess: Apotheosis

Read "Apotheosis" reviewed by Chris Mosey


The inspiration for Apotheosis, Japanese-American guitarist Gene Ess's fourth album, is taken from mythologist James Campbell's book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces," first published in 1949. In this Campbell describes apotheosis as “the expansion of consciousness a hero experiences when defeating his foe." His theories concerning fictional heroes have been used as a template by many modern writers and artists, including George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars films. Now Ess is applying them to jazz. ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Resilience

Skirl Records
2020

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Apotheosis

SIMP Records
2019

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