Acclaimed pianist Johannes Wallmann returns with ‘Not Tired,’ a blissful sonic journey through newly discovered musical ecosystems featuring Nick Moran, Ingrid Jensen, Dayna Stephens and Adam Nussbaum.
Acclaimed pianist and composer Johannes Wallmann releases his twelfth album as leader or co-leader, Not Tired, via Shifting Paradigm Records. For this project, Wallmann—Director of Jazz Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison—reunites with bassist Nick Moran, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, and saxophonist Dayna Stephens, who were all featured on his critically acclaimed 2021 release Elegy for an Undiscovered Species. They are joined here by drummer Adam Nussbaum, a long-standing figure in the New York jazz community. The quintet recorded the album in February 2024 at Samurai Hotel Recording Studio in Queens, New York.
Born in Germany and raised on Vancouver Island, Wallmann has built an international career as a pianist, composer, and educator. A Yamaha Piano Artist, he has released eleven previous albums, including Elegy for an Undiscovered Species, named a “Best of 2021” album by DownBeat. His 2018 project Love Wins was recognized for its engagement with marriage equality and social justice, while Precarious Towers (2022) and Ten Stories (2023) showcased collaborative writing within a quintet format. As a performer and bandleader, Wallmann has appeared at venues from Carnegie Hall and Massey Hall to The Blue Note, Birdland, and major festivals worldwide.
Speaking about the new record, Wallmann explains, “The title track grew out of watching my daughter at bedtime. She would be visibly exhausted yet insist she was ‘not tired.’ I realized it was about more than children resisting sleep—it’s a universal moment, holding onto the end of one day while beginning to dream about the next.” That duality became the starting point for an album that moves between different imagined landscapes—rainforests, cities, outer space—each one a place where music creates a world. Work on Not Tired began in 2023 as a collaboration between Wallmann and bassist Moran at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, where Moran is pursuing a doctoral degree in music. Throughout the fall, they workshopped music for the new album, meeting weekly to play through sketches and shape them into fully formed compositions.
The opening track, “Not Tired,” begins with a lullaby theme that recurs throughout the piece. The composition portrays both the weight of fatigue and the resistance to letting go, moving gradually from grounded motifs into an abstracted dreamlike section.
From there, the album shifts into “Into the Rain,” a composition that builds on subtle rhythmic figures to evoke the ecology of the Canadian West Coast. The piece accumulates textures gradually, layering instruments in a way that suggests rainfall turning into a fuller environment.
“Blind Spot” contrasts sharply, employing angular lines and driving rhythms that suggest the pace of an urban setting. This sense of motion continues in “Twelve Thirty-Four,” where Moran’s bass sets up a mysterious pulse before Nussbaum extends the conversation with searching percussion, creating an interplay between groove and ambiguity.
With “Ice Planet,” the group moves into stark, open harmonies and sparse textures. The music begins in dissonant fragments, evoking a barren expanse, before evolving into a lyrical ballad that suggests the search for connection in isolation.
Returning to earthbound imagery, “Towel Snapper” draws on swinging rhythms and brisk exchanges between soloists, its tightly wound energy reminiscent of playful competition. “Near Orbit” follows, shifting back to space-inspired territory, with washy cymbals and elongated melodic figures that create a sensation of floating and suspension.
The penultimate track, “Bad Apple,” highlights the ensemble’s cohesion as they navigate sudden groove changes and collective harmonic movement, producing a layered and rhythmically intricate structure. The album closes with “Annus Mirabilis,” a composition that ties earlier motifs into a reflective conclusion, balancing complexity with a sense of resolution.
With Not Tired, Johannes Wallmann offers a set of compositions that explore the relationship between place, imagination, and musical interaction. The album demonstrates the collaborative strength of his quintet while tracing a narrative arc from the everyday to the dreamlike, and from the local to the cosmic.