Born in Lohne near Osnabrueck, Felix Schlarmann today lives in Amsterdam. There he studied Jazz-Drums at the ‘Conservatorium van Amsterdam’ with Marcel Serierse and Martijn Vink and graduated in 2007.

He followed lessons and masterclasses by John Clayton, Richard Bona, John Scofield, Chris Potter, John Taylor, Bill Stewart, Bobby McFerrin, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Danny Gottlieb, Dennis Mackrel, Terry Line Carrington, Joey Baron, Jim Black a.o. Since 2007 Felix Schlarmann is a master student of Martijn Vink in Amsterdam.

At the age of nine he started playing the drums and also classical percussion with focus on the marimbaphone. Since the mid 90s Felix Schlarmann played the drums in Jazz-, Rock-, and Bigbands, e.g. the youth-jazz-orchestra of the German state Lower Saxony, and was also active as a classical percussionist and played concerts all over germany. He won several prizes in the German competition ‘Jugend Musiziert’, a first prize on federal level 2001 as a soloist and in 2003 for ensemble. He also won different prices in the German jazzcompetition ‘Jugend Jazzt’. His composition ‘Good World?’ for Vibraphone and Set-up was published 2002 in the ‘Gretel Verlag’.

Felix Schlarmann played on radio and television, tours, concerts and festivals in the Netherlands, Germany, Poland and Russia with different German and Dutch groups. He played with the Jazzkantine, Bert Joris, Edwin Rutten, Martien Oster, Pat Appleton, Pete York, Sam Lee Brown, Leni Stern, Wolfgang Roggenkamp, Gerhard Stengert a.o., and worked with Peter Bernstein, Justin DiCoccio, Antonio Farao, ‚Jazzorchestra of the Concertgebouw‘, Mark Murphy, Fay Classen, Erik van Lier, Bernhard Mergner and several other musicians.

As a drummer he can be found in a wide range of musical settings, performing with renown groups in the Dutch and European scene. His  most recent project is Tree House, a 7-piece ensemble that has officially been premiered during the 2023 edition of the German Jazzahead.

With the 4 piece electronic-jazz-crossover group BRUUT! he released 8 records and toured all over the globe, appearing on international festivals like the North Sea Jazzfestival, the Tokyo Jazzfestival or London jazz, amongst many more.
Next to that Felix is an active initiator of projects as well as a sideman for numerous formations, including a long time collaboration with saxophone player Jasper Blom and new groups around percussionist Modar Salama or German pianist and electronic music composer Roman Rofalski. 

As a bandleader and composer he made his recording debut on Challenge Records already early in his career with his well appreciated album Counterlife. With Tree House he makes his comeback as a composer and bandleader in 2023.

Felix is part of the jazz faculty at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where he teaches drums and jazz ensemble, but also is involved in research on creative processes and new learning concepts.
As a member of Splendor, an Amsterdam based collective of musicians and composers, Felix is involved in many crossover and impro activities.

Being a driven organizer within the Amsterdam jazz scene, Felix is the founding father and musical director of the highly acclaimed jazzfestival ‘Jazzfest Amsterdam’. Also, he runs his monthly jazz series called ‘Jazz in /K’ at Amsterdam’s venue Studio /K.

Growing up in a musical family in northern Germany’s countryside, Felix picked up the sticks at the age of 9. After a music driven youth not only playing the drums in rock and jazz bands, but also being a passionate classical percussionist, he finally chose jazzmusic as a career and moved to the Netherlands to study drums. Felix holds a master’s degree in jazz drums from the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Beside that he studied with John Riley at the Manhattan School of Music in New York City.

During the years he had the chance to perform with great national and international artists like Dick Oatts, Peter Bernstein, Chris Cheek, Alex Sipiagin, Gilad Hekselman, Seamus Blake, Bert Joris, Cecil Bridgewater, Joel Frahm, Paul Bollenback, Ben van Gelder, Dave Douglas, Jesse van Ruller, Benjamin Herman, Tineke Postma, Ernst Glerum, Anton Goudsmit, Michael Moore, Jiggs Whigham, Deborah Brown, Luis Bonilla, Jay Anderson, Frederik Köster, Ack van Royen, Jasper van’t Hof, Harmen Fraanje, Sam Most, Marco Tamburini and many many more...