Tomas Jochmann

Tomas Jochmann was born on September 9, 1986, in Prešov, Slovak Republic, a city which has gained a very good music reputation not only in Slovakia. He has been interested in jazz music ever since his childhood. When he was a little boy, both his parents worked in a theatre, and so he spent much time there. Thus he was always surrounded by music of almost all genres which has helped him on his way to become a very versatile musician.

He was 8 years old when he first met one of the first jazz pianists of Prešov and the founder of the jazz department of the School of Arts in Prešov Peter Adamkovič. Among the graduates of this school, there are e.g. Matej Benko (a pianist living and playing in Prague) or Rastislav Uhrík (a double bass player and a teacher at the jazz department of the Janáček Academy of Performing Arts in Brno). Thanks to Peter Adamkovič and his school, Tomáš gained a very solid basis for further musical development namely in jazz. He gained access to recordings of jazz giants, such as Kenny Barron, Chick Corea, Erroll Garner or Michel Camilo, which he soon fell in love with and has been inspired by them ever since – lyric style with Brazilian music influences of Kenny Barron, perfect rhythms of Chick Corea and his Elektric Band, swing feel of Erroll Garner and very rich latin-jazz rhythms of Michel Camilo.

When he was 15, Tomáš moved to Prague to study piano at the Jaroslav Ježek Conservatory