Dennis Mitcheltree / Johannes Wallmann Duo

New album, Holding Space, scheduled for Feb. 7, 2025 release on Shifting Paradigm Records!
Pre-order now at https://shiftingparadigmrecords.bandcamp.com/album/holding-space

Holding Space is an intimate musical conversation between two friends and longtime musical collaborators, Dennis Mitcheltree and Johannes Wallmann.

Mitcheltree is a tenor saxophonist who was born and raised in Wisconsin and studied at Berklee College of Music before moving to New York City in 1987 where he became a mainstay of the jazz scene. Now working as a freelancer in Los Angeles, Mitcheltree has released six albums as a leader and is the Artistic Director for the American Music Group. Wallmann is a German-born, Vancouver Island-raised pianist and composer, who, since 2012, directs the Jazz Studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has recorded ten critically acclaimed albums as a leader and co-leads the band Precarious Towers.

Mitcheltree and Wallmann were both long-term veterans of the New York jazz scene, and their musical partnership originates in the New York of the late 1990’s, when Mitcheltree, on a recommendation by Jim McNeely, recruited Wallmann to join his quartet, which was about to embark on a two-week tour of the Midwest. The two immediately hit it off, and twenty-seven years later, Mitcheltree and Wallmann’s collaborations now spans six quartet tours of the U.S., two duo and quartet tours of Germany, countless other performances in venues throughout North America, three albums led by Mitcheltree (including his 2022 release Golden Rule) and Wallmann’s 2015 album Love Wins, as well as many joint educational and festival workshops throughout the U.S.

Drawing on the near-telepathic chemistry Mitcheltree and Wallmann have honed over twenty-seven years, their album release Holding Space was recorded in July 2023 at the Hamel Music Center in Madison, WI, following a brief run of duo concerts. Both musicians being accomplished composers, the album consists entirely of Mitcheltree and Wallmann’s original tunes — most of which were newly written for the occasion —  interspersed with a few spontaneous improvisations. On three pieces, “Via Valse,” “Trio Adagio,” and “Digging a Shallow Grave for My Enemy,” they are joined to good effect by another friend (though cast in the role of the “enemy” on the album’s closing track), Milwaukee trumpeter Russ Johnson.

Previous press quotes about Mitcheltree and Wallmann:

  • "Mitcheltree's tenor is soulful, swinging, and street smart." — Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide

  • "He is a master storyteller with the tenor sax..." — Jared Donze, Iowa City Icon

  • "Mitcheltree is a strong player and equally talented composer." — Michael J. Renner, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

  • “Mitcheltree’s tenor sax tone is warm, rounded and Sonny Rollins-like, but adorning a slightly trickier mind. We need music like this, as diverting philosophical salve in dire times.” — Kevin Lynch, Sheperd Express (Milwaukee)

  • “a remarkable pianist and composer...his evocative compositions are brimming with melodic cogency and rhythmic pull” — John Murph, Downbeat Magazine

  • “Wallmann’s confident, muscular and elegant playing leads a set of tunes evenly divided between standards and original compositions.” — Catalina Maria Johnson, Downbeat Magazine

  • “Wallmann’s solo delivers spirals and erudite blues phrasing” – delarue, New York Music Daily

  • "Johannes Wallmann and his band pack a lot of good stuff in Precarious Towers. So much so that repeated listening is a requirement. That’s the hallmark of a great album." — Preston Frazier, Something Else!