“Blessed with fluidity and intricate twists.”
“Timo Vollbrecht is a fantastic saxophonist.”
“Timo Vollbrecht has developed a unique artistic voice […] and it is especially the sensation of air and tranquility that is so impressive. […] A true discovery.”
Timo Vollbrecht is an internationally performing saxophonist-bandleader, composer, reeds player, educator, and scholar. Described as "luminously fine" by the New York City Jazz Record, his music is “blessed with rhythmic fluidity and intricate twists.” Based in between his home in Lower Saxony, Berlin, and New York, he is particularly active on the international jazz and contemporary music scenes. A musical omnivore, he organically combines jazz with elements of new music, electro-acoustic timbres, post-rock, and instrumental songwriting. He has appeared at landmark venues such as the Village Vanguard, Berliner Philharmonie, Porgy & Bess Vienna, A-Trane Berlin, Jazz Club Unterfahrt Munich, Jamboree Barcelona, Caribbean Club Kyiv, Winter Jazz Fest NYC, and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He is the Director of Jazz Studies at Brown University and and holds a Ph.D. in Jazz Studies from NYU, where he was on faculty previously. As a Fulbright scholar, he was mentored by Mark Turner, Stefon Harris, and Joe Lovano. At the Berlin University of the Arts he studied with Peter Weniger, John Hollenbeck, and Kurt Rosenwinkel to receive a Bachelor in Music Education. His research interests range at the intersections of music production, improvisation, composition, and naturalistic inquiry.
Acclaimed for his rich tone and unique musical writing, Timo has released 24 albums as a leader and sideman. Aside from performing alongside Branford Marsalis, Kenny Werner, Drew Gress, Mike Mainieri, Chris Tordini, Joe Lovano, Ari Hoenig, or John Pattitucci, he is also a prolific bandleader who has toured over 40 countries with his band FLY MAGIC. His latest record Givers & Takers (2022) was the “Editors’ Choice” by JAZZIZ magazine, air-played around the world, and Deutschlandfunk Radio wrote: “The whole thing is both organic and dynamic, and the band has what is so essential in jazz - its own sound, its own voice.” Prior to that, Fly Magic (2016) and Faces in Places (2018) had gained international acclaim, were featured as “Jazz Album of the Week” on NDR Radio, as well as on some of the most influential online playlists including Spotify’s State of Jazz.
Together with renowned vocalist Theo Bleckmann and guitarist Ben Monder, he formed the “Tether Trio” that has performed for the Fajr International Music Festival in Tehran as well as at the Goethe-Institut in Washington D.C.. As a composer, he wrote a string quartet for the NYC-based JACK quartet, worked with contemporary dance and collaborated with the Berlin-based VR-filmmaker Michael Googer. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung emphasizes his “modern, flexible [...] and self-effacing sound” while New York's jazz bible Hot House hailed him as a "remarkable talent". As a member of the hypermodern large ensemble BIG HEART MACHINE, Timo is also taking part in a new and innovative big band resurgence, which the New York Times acclaims “a rigorous, composerly view.” This assembly of “Brooklyn-centric stars” (Downbeat Magazine) intersects the jazz big band tradition with heavy metal, the microtones of György Ligeti, Monk-like trumpet section blasts, hazardous rhythms, and extended techniques.
In his active performing career, Timo has appeared at major music festivals on five continents: Jazz Woche Burghausen, Winter Jazz Fest NYC, Jazzyocolors Festival Paris, Jazz Festival Izmir (Turkey), Danilo Perez's Panama Jazz Festival, Festival International de Port-au-Prince (Haiti), Perth International Jazz Festival (Australia), Jazz By The Bay Festival (Australia), the Thailand International Jazz Conference (Bangkok), Penang Island Jazz Festival (Malaysia), Jazz Lives in Syria Festival (Damascus), Jazz Ahead Convention (Bremen, Germany), euroJazz Festival (Chile), and the and the Lagnau Jazz Nights (Switzerland). In addition, he regularly performs at renowned clubs such as the Village Vanguard (New York), A-Trane Jazz Club (Berlin), Jazz Club Unterfahrt (Munich), Porgy & Bess (Vienna), Jamboree (Barcelona), Budapest Music Center (Hungary), Frontier Center (Beijing, China), Meta House Phnom Penh (Cambodia), and the SingJazz Club (Singapore). For the Goethe-Institut, Germany's worldwide operating cultural institute, he toured the Middle East, Asia, South and Central America, as well as Australia.
Timo uses his insight as a practitioner to conduct scholarly research. His dissertation, “Manfred Eicher, ECM Records: An Analysis of the Producer as Auteur” is an in vivo case study that examines the collaborative work in the recording studio. During fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in Europe and the US, he observed Eicher produce albums with Joe Lovano, Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, and others. His study portrays the producer as an improviser whose ‘instrument’ is the studio. It unearths his ingenious influence on the artistic product through auteurism and profound musical expertise. Timo presented some of his research at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie in the context of the Reflektor Festival curated by Eicher.
Timo identifies as a citizen-artist whose goal is to create music that is situated in cultural context and his immediate lifeworld. Music never happens in a vaccum. Instead, it is an inherently social praxis that can powerfully impact people’s life and contribute to their well-being. Therefore, he has made it a priority in his artistic praxis to initiate community music projects. He curated an open music night in Ramallah, where his band teamed up with Palestinian musicians, organized student concerts at the Hassenfiled Children’s Hospital in New York, and performed interactive concerts at senior citizen residences and refugee homes.
“It is compositions such as the wonderfully airy song “Elephants” that make you want to listen to him forever. It’s pure beauty, in meditative motion, while edgy at the same time.”
“Timo Vollbrecht’s album ‘Fly Magic’ is one of the most outstanding recordings by a German artist in the year of 2016.”
“A Berlin saxophonist in New York with a fresh sound that the German guitarist Keisuke Matsuno contributes to significantly.”
“Timo Vollbrecht and his ensemble are among the rising stars on the jazz-scene.”
“Timo Vollbrecht has created a musical story that transcends the limitations of musical genre.”
“Timo Vollbrecht produces art that is situated in cultural context and that is in direct relevance to the environment that surrounds him (…) He’s painting musical portraits of humanity.”