Bio

Bassist and composer Martin Wind was born in Flensburg, Germany, in 1968 and moved to New York in 1996 to study at New York University (NYU) on a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).

In 1995, he earned a diploma as an orchestral musician from the Music Conservatory in Cologne, studying with Prof. Wolfgang Güttler, former bassist with the Berlin Philharmonic.

In 1998, he received his master's degree in jazz performance and composition at NYU, studying with Mike Richmond, Jim McNeely, Tom Boras, Mike Holober, and Kenny Werner.

Since moving to New York, Martin has become a regular at major jazz venues and an in-demand session player. His film credits include The Alamo, Intolerable Cruelty, Mona Lisa Smile, Fur, True Grit, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, and Gemini Man.

In 1995, Martin placed third at the International Thelonious Monk Bass Competition in Washington, D.C.
The following year, his trio Dreiklang won the first Cognac Hennessy/Blue Note Jazz Search in Germany, leading to a recording for Blue Note Records.
In 2000, he became the first jazz musician to receive the Cultural Award of his home state, Schleswig-Holstein.

Martin has released more than 20 albums as a leader or co-leader, beginning with his debut Gone with the Wind (1993). Other highlights include the quartet recordings Salt & Pepper (2007) and Get It? (2009), and the orchestral album Turn Out the Stars - Music Written or Inspired by Bill Evans (2014), featuring Scott Robinson, Bill Cunliffe, and Joe La Barbera--an album that Paquito D'Rivera called "disgustingly beautiful."

Recent releases include Light Blue (2018), White Noise (2020), and My Astorian Queen (2021), celebrating the 25th anniversary of his move to New York City. In 2022, he launched the New York Bass Quartet, whose album Air received a 41/2-star review in DownBeat Magazine, with critic Bill Milkowski calling it a "bass manifesto."

Two new releases are planned for 2026:

• Stars, featuring Anat Cohen (clarinet), Matt Wilson (drums), and Kenny Barron (piano), as part of Newvelle Records' LP box set series.
• September, the second album by the Gravity Trio, with Peter Weniger (tenor saxophone), Jonas Burgwinkel (drums), and special guest Scott Robinson (tenor saxophone and clarinet), released on Laika Records (Germany).

Currently, Martin is a member of the trios of Bill Mays, Dena DeRose, Bill Cunliffe, Ann Hampton Callaway, and Ted Rosenthal, as well as the bands of Matt Wilson ("Honey & Salt") and Ken Peplowski. Since 2013, he has also toured with Belgian guitarist and jazz legend Philip Catherine, performing material from their duo album New Folks (ACT Records).

Martin has recorded and/or performed with a wide range of artists, including Gidon Kremer, Christoph Eschenbach, Mstislav Rostropovich, Lalo Schifrin, Monty Alexander, Pat Metheny, Clark Terry, Mark Murphy, Slide Hampton, Toots Thielemans, Buddy DeFranco, the Metropole Orchestra, the Radio Big Bands of Cologne, Hamburg, Frankfurt, and Berlin, Michael and Randy Brecker, Eddie Daniels, Curtis Fuller, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Johnny Griffin, Bucky Pizzarelli, Mike Stern, Larry Goldings, Johnny Mandel, Frank Wess, James Moody, Hank Jones, John Scofield, Sting, Ann Hampton Callaway, Michel Legrand, Mulgrew Miller, Anat Cohen, Benny Green, and the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, among many others.

He serves on the faculty at New York University and Hofstra University and has taught at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Germany as well as the Centrum, Stanford, and Litchfield Jazz Camps.

Martin has composed and arranged music for theater and film, including works commissioned by The American Place Theatre for its productions of The Things They Carried (2005) and The Glass Castle (2007). One of his arrangements was featured in the 2014 film Love Is Strange, starring John Lithgow and Tony Molina.

Since 2015, he has been part of the Kennedy Center Honors Gala Orchestra, performing with world-renowned artists such as James Taylor, Renée Fleming, John Legend, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, and Herbie Hancock.

In 2018, he premiered his bass concerto "Legacy" with his hometown orchestra. His compositions also include the sonata "Into the Light" for bass and piano, numerous arrangements and works for bass ensemble, and over 100 jazz tunes and concert pieces.