Johannes Schmitz, born in 1987, lives in Saarbrücken and is active in various musical contexts.

In the band Ulnaris he uses influences from noise, punk, metal and pop.

In the ensemble What's behind he performs secular music from the Middle Ages and Renaissance together with the singer Élodie Brochier.

In 2020 he presented an album on the acoustic guitar with bassist Stefan Scheib dedicated to the work of Charles Mingus.

Johannes is also a member of the hardcore jazz group Hydropuls, which took part in the Radio Edition of the Jazzfest Berlin in November 2020.

Schmitz also works as a sideman in various formations of trombonist Christof Thewes and often appears with the Berlin jazz formation Bubu.

In recent years, he released albums with Sizzle Club (with Rudi Mahall - clarinets, Jörg Fischer - drums and Uli Böttcher - synthesizer) and SteDaJoDa (with Daniel Studer - bass, Stefan Scheib - bass, Daniel Weber - drums).

In addition, Johannes Schmitz recently played with Helmut Eisel, Wollie Kaiser, Tobias Delius, Olaf Rupp, Jan Roder, Henrik Walsdorff, Matthias Schubert, Carl Ludwig-Hübsch, Tobias Christl, Christian Marien among others.

Johannes studied at Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and taught Jazz Guitar at Hochschule für Musik Saarbrücken.

Awards

2014: Finalist at Biberacher Jazzpreis (with Krassport)

2013: Best Instrumentalist at HFM Jazzpreis Saarbrücken (with Uhl)

2010: "Grand Prix" and "Prix de public" at Tremplin Jazz Avignon (with Krassport)