Joja Wendt (born 31 July 1964 as Johan Wendt) is a German jazz pianist and composer.Wendt was born in Hamburg. The son of a female singer and a doctor, he began playing the piano at the age of four. He decided soon after leaving school at the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium in Osdorf, Hamburg to turn to jazz. He then played regularly in the Hamburg music pub Sperl, where he was discovered by Joe Cocker. Cocker took Wendt as the opening act of his tour of Germany, so he became known quickly throughout the country.