Biography

born on november 2, 1957 in bad godesberg, germany
until 1976 classical flute studies in bonn.

from 1976: studied music in hamburg (university of hamburg) and in the u.s. (dave liebman a.o.).
studied medecine from 1976 till 1983.
moved to berlin in 1983 and started to work professionally as a composer and musician.
since 1993 gebhard ullmann lives in new york and berlin.

1983: first prize at the german phono academy competition (with andreas willers). several tv appearances. compositions for the radio bigband copenhagen. chamber music trio with keyboards and vocals (sigrid meyer)

1984/85: lps/cds 'playful' (with willers on biber records), 'out to lunch' (4tet on nabel records) and 'nervous city' ('die elefanten' on nektar records)

1986: toured with the above line-ups plus the bigband 'c.i.o.' (directed by garret list and alexander von schlipppenbach). bilsak jazz festival in istanbul with andreas willers.

1987: cd 'no age' (emi/capitol) (with willers, niko schaeuble, trilok gurtu, glenn moore, burhan oecal, hans luedemann a.o.) and tour. jazz award of the swf (german radio) with andreas willers. concert and tours with lauren newton and willers. project with 'dance-fabrik berlin'. cd 'immer alle, immer ich' produced by teo macero. ('die elefanten' nektar records)

1988: two months on tour for the goethe institute in east africa/middle east with willers. concert and cd 'wassermusik' ('die elefanten' on nabel records). cd 'tibetan dixie' with niko schaeuble.

1989: tour in australia and new zealand for the goethe institute. (with willers. jazzfestival melbourne with guests a.o. paul grabowski). cds 'ullmann, rava, willers...' (with enrico rava for nabel records), 'silent jazz ensemble' (biber records), . tour in estonia with 'silent jazz ensemble'. concerts with paul bley.

1990: tour in lithuania as a soloist. first composer in residence award by the city of berlin for nyc. recording of the cd 'suite noire' (first time on bassclarinet) (with marvin smitty smith and bob stewart on nabel records). cd 'per dee doo' (nabel records). first concerts in nyc.

1991: recording of the suite 'tá lam' for radio berlin (with hans hassler on accordion). cd 'kashina' (with the 'silent jazz ensemble' for biber records). jazzfest berlin (with hans hassler, frank gratkowski, michael moore, ab baars, michael riessler). german musician at the european jazz big band in strassbourg/france. member of the bobby previte ensemble at the festival 'jazz across the border', berlin. tours with 'die elefanten' featuring bob moses and tiger okoshi.

1992: compositions for several movies. collaboration with the actor 'otto sander' (cd 'eisen, kohle, zucker' with tayfun erdem based on a novel by 'nazim hikmet'). cd 'major league' (bellaphon records with bassist guenter lenz' 'springtime' with bob degen, thomas cremer, claus stoetter, e.l. petrowsky) commuting to nyc for the first time.

1993: program with 'otto sander' on 'bebuquin oder die dilettanten des wunders' a surrealist novel 'carl einstein'. tours south east asia with andreas willers and steve argueelles for the goethe institute (jakarta jazz festival) cd based on goethe's 'faust' (with 'die elefanten'/klangraeume records). cd 'playful '93' (with andreas willers for nabel records), recording of the cd 'basement research' in nyc for soul note records (with ellery eskelin, drew gress, phil haynes)

1994: cd 'moritat' (99 records with 'tá lam acht'). tour with willem breuker and the hannes zerbe blechband (cd on 'bv haast records'). first tour of 'tá lam acht' in germany.

1995: cd 'trad corrosion' (nabel records with willers and phil haynes). 'ringelnatz programm' with otto sander. premiere of 'hell und bunt' for accordion and string trio (verlag fuer neue musik). festival jazz across the border with the 'basement research' project. studio project winner (city of berlin)

1996: wins studio project in berlin again. tours europe. commutes to nyc. 'tá lam acht' at the moers festival, germany.

1997: composer in residence (city of berlin). concerts in the u.s. first visit to vancouver. several projects with musicians from nyc. tours france, belgium, austria and switzerland. european tour with 'basement research' (with eskelin, gress, haynes) several appearances with 'otto sander.'

1998: cd 'tá lam' (songlines recordings). tours the u.s. and canada with the 'tá lam zehn' project (festivals new york city, san francisco, toronto, vancouver, washington, saskatoon). commutes between berlin and brooklyn. feature in german tv (aspekte) shot at the knitting factory festival in nyc. jazzfestival berlin with 'tá lam zehn' recorded by radio and tv . radiofeatures in nyc, vancouver, chicago, zuerich, france, japan.

1999: cd 'kreuzberg park east' (soul note records with eskelin, gress, haynes), cd 'full circle suite' (cimp with joe fonda, chris jonas, taylor ho bynum, kevin norton) , cd 'oct 1, 98. the clarinet trio' (leo records) (with juergen kupke and theo nabicht). tours canada and europe with the 'basement research' project (tony malaby replacing eskelin).in the us-college-radio-jazz-charts for two months with two cds. julius hemphill compositional award in two categories.

2000: cd' vancouver concert' (leo records recorded live at the vancouver jazz festival). concerts in nyc and tour in europe with 'conference call' (with michael jefry stevens, joe fonda, matt wilson), concerts with the 'transitional erasers' (herb robertson and frank moebus), concert at the guimares jazz festival (joe fonda quintet with brenda buffolino a.o.), the 'clarinet trio' tours france for the first time.

2001: cd 'essencia' (between the lines with carlos bica and jens thomas), european tour with 'conference call' (featuring han bennink) and in the u.s. and canada (festival guelph) (featuring george schuller), the 'clarinet trio' at the european festival in mexico and the festivals of nimes and grenoble (france). concerts and cd production with the 'ndr bigband' (ullmann's compositions arranged by satoko fujii, andy emler, chris dahlgren, guenter lenz) featuring tom rainey and julian argueelles. cd recording of the 'guenter lenz springtime' (guenter lenz, claus stoetter, dieter glawischnig, billy elgart). leader of the project 'magic clarinets' at the rudolstaetter tanz und folkfest (a.o. with ivo papasov, matt dariau, ibon koteron, sergeij starostin)

2002: cd 'translucent tones' by the clarinet trio (leo records). first cd of conference call 'final answer' (soul note records). tours europe with 'essencia' (silvia courvoisier and carlos bica a.o. festival lisbon), 'clarinet trio' (new line up with juergen kupke and michael thieke) at the festivals in bath (uk), saturnin les apts, paris (france), brugge (belgium), san francisco, seattle (usa) vancouver (can). mid west (usa) tour with 'conference call'. one week of concerts in chicago with a.o. hamid drake, ernest dawkins. concert with lee konitz.

2003: cd 'variations on a master plan' (leo records) with conference call featuring han bennink. 'conference call' with george schuller tours europe and records new compositions (studio and live). concerts in berlin with steve swell, owen howard, tony buck, hermann keller, olaf ton bigbandproject. 'conference call' with gerry hemingway tours the u.s. and canada. concerts and recording with art lande and chris dahlgren. the clarinet trio records the third cd.

2004: cd 'spirals. the berlin concert' (482 music) recorded during conference call's european tour 2003. european tour with 'the clarinet trio' and special guest hans hassler on accordion. u.s. tour and cd recording with the 'ullmann/swell 4' with hill greene and barry altschul, released on cimp records entitled 'desert songs and other landscapes'. concerts with george schuller's 'schulldogs' (w. ed schuller and herb robertson). southern us-tour with conference call. more new cd's: 'the big band project' on soul note, 'ballads and related objects' on leo records.
performances with hannes zerbe's 'heiner mueller project'.

2005 jazz festival muenster with the clarinet trio. cd 'bassX3' with ullmann on bassflute and bassclarinet with peter herbert and chris dahlgren on basses on drimala records. concerts with 'tá lam zehn' at jazz im palmengarten in frankfurt and jazz em agosto in lisbon. conference call performs at the braga jazz festival in portugal. concerts in nyc with different line-ups a.o. with steve swell, william parker and barry altschul. cd recording in ny for cimp with joe fonda's sextet. european tour with the new 5tet line-up of 'basement research'.

2006 european tours with 'bassX3', 'conference call' and 'ullmann/swell4'. festivals in bergen (norway) and bolzano (italy). clarinet trio in austria. concerts in NYC and tours in the usa with 'ullmann/swell 4' and 'conference call'. cd recording in nyc with 'conference call'. concerts at the jazz meeting in monterrey, mexico (a.o. with andrew cyrille and benoit achiary). new cds: 'conference call live at the outpost' (482 music), 'cutitout' with chris dahlgren and jay rosen (leo records). 'basement research live in muenster' (nottwo records), 'die blaue nixe' with art lande and chris dahlgren (between the lines). the 'schwartzegeist / the sun ra project' premiered in berlin. based on lyrics by the great sun ra this is a nu jazz project by the spoken word artist sadiq bey. concerts at the jazzfestival in madrid with the 'scott dubois' quartet.

2007 studioproject award (city of berlin) with sadiq bey. tours and studio recordings in the us and canada with the 'ullmann/swell 4' (with hill greene and barry altschul) and in europe with the 'scott dubois quartett'. european tour with 'conference call'. premiere of the new berlin quartett 'e und u mann' (with daniel erdmann, johannes fink and christian lillinger). concert with 'joe fonda's loaded basses' at jazz em agosto in lisbon. new cd's: 'strict minimum' with the 'guenter lenz springtime' (jazzwerkstatt berlin), leo recodrs' '25th anniversary' cd featuring a.o. the 'clarinet trio' recorded live at the loft in cologne and 'new basement research' (soul note). european tour with 'basement research' and 50th birthday concert at the jazzfest berlin.
tours with the 'clarinet trio' (italy and germany) and with the 'scott dubois quartet' (europe).

2008 european tour with the 'scott dubois quartet' release of their first cd 'banshees' on new york city's sunnyside records. member of the all star line-up during the jazz meeting in monterey mexico for the 2nd time, concerts in germany, scotland and poland with the 'clarinet trio', north american tour with the 'ullmann/swell 4' and concert at the vision festival in new york city. cd on berlin's jazzwerkstatt label with 'stereo lisa' entitled 'anno onno monno'. concerts in germany with the 'guenter lenz
springtime', chris dahlgren's 'lexicon', the spoken word poet 'sadiq bey' and the turkish composer 'tayfun erdem'.
release of the 5th cd of the 'conference call' quartet on the portuguese clean feed label entitled 'poetry in motion' and northamerican tour.

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