Music, with its endless elements, is the ideal creative playground for Michael’s artistic expression. It is energy in motion; an e-motional reflection of people and cultures.
When we first get to know people, they are like blank canvases. Almost immediately the painter in us starts to sketch our picture of them. While the painting is never done, at some point we only add little details that do not change our composition. And so it is with music, too.
Although we don’t know if there’s something waiting for us, we feel impelled to shift to give life the opportunity to let change happen. When we move to a new environment, we arrive as a new canvas. Pictures can look very different depending on phases we are going through, directions we take, and where we are in life – physically, emotionally, spiritually – where we are on our own journey. And so it is with music, too.
The more we experience ourselves in different environments, the more we see that what and who we are is a construct, and how busy we are cherishing those roles. Roles as anchors create an identity to define ourselves and to stabilize. The anchor’s ground, a mystery, and everything conceived remains a vagabond. Michael has found his musical home in Jazz and Brazilian music. He goes out into the world building this home, bringing simply his voice, his guitar, and his love.
Michael Walz, born in 1977 in Baden-Baden, Germany graduated from the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Conservatory in Leipzig, Germany in Jazz & Pop Guitar (M.M) and Music Pedagogy (M.M), and received a diploma in Electronic Music Producing from the Audio Engineering School SAE Barcelona, Spain.
He studied with Richie Beirach, Berthold Klein, Frank Haunschild, Joachim Schönecker, Paul Shigihara, Christian Röver, Werner Neumann, Bruno Müller, Nelson Faria, Claudio Bergamini and attended workshops with Scott Henderson, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Peter Bernstein, Pat Metheny, and Lula Galvão.
Several music projects (jazz, latin, funk, soul & pop) gave him the possibility to perform, travel and live in different cities and countries. After living in Baden-Baden (Germany), Freiburg (Germany), Cologne (Germany), Leipzig (Germany), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Barcelona (Spain), New York (USA), he is currently living in Rio de Janeiro.
Some musicians he performed with are Richie Beirach, Perry Robinson, Albert Vila, Arthur Maia, Nilson Matta, Portinho, Helio Schiavo, Klaus Mueller, Rafael Barata, Nanny Assis, Hadar Noiberg, Simone Santos.
He played concerts with his own projects or as a sideman guitar player and/or singer in Germany, The Netherlands, Czech Republic, Spain, Brazil and the United States. Moreover, he performed at festivals such as: III Festival de Inverno do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2004; Feira Literária de Campos, Brazil, 2004; Jazz at Parc Ciutadella in Barcelona, Spain, 2008.
Other credits include playing guitar in the musical “All You Need Is Beat – A Tribute To The Beatles”, Leipzig, Germany 2003 and “Max und die Käsebande”, Leipzig, Germany 2005.