Jakob Manz

Saxophone | Germany

Jakob Manz is an exceptional talent on the saxophone and a master on the flute! Although he is only in his early 20s, Manz is already one of the most sought-after jazz musicians in Germany and has won several top-class awards in recent years. Born in 2001, Manz has played with Randy Brecker, the WDR Big Band, the SWR Big Band, Ack Van Rooyen, Nils Landgren and many others and has already had the privilege of presenting his music on internationally renowned stages such as the Elbjazz Festival, the Philharmonie Köln and the Jazzfest Basel.

Since the release of his debut "Natural Energy" in 2020 (ACT Music), Jakob Manz has played around 200 concerts in German-speaking countries and performed at all relevant festivals during this time. In 2022, the delicate acoustic duo album "The Gallery Concerts I" with pianist Johanna Summer was released, showing Manz as an improviser of great depth and sensitivity. In the same year, he also received many prominent awards, including the Landesjazzpreis of his home state of Baden-Württemberg as the youngest artist in the history of the prize. In 2023, he followed up with Groove Connection, another album on ACT, recorded with international genre greats such as Roberto Di Gioia, Per Lindvall, Tim Lefebvre and several others. The follow-up album with his regular formation The Jakob Manz Project is already firmly scheduled for 2024.

There are not many young jazz musicians who master their instrument as virtuosically as Jakob Manz, and whose playing sounds at the same time so unpretentious, clear, song-serving and soulful. The fact that he succeeds in this is due on the one hand to his talent and the determination with which he works on his musical expression. And on the other hand, it is due to his will to inspire and touch the audience with his music. He says that it is important to him to play his very special instrument, the alto saxophone, in a way that fills the room, but at the same time reaches each individual listener directly and immediately. And one can state that he succeeds in this at any time, whether in the club, in concert halls or on large festival stages.

Unbelievable he's only 20. Many people who experience Jakob Manz and his band The Jakob Manz Project live for the first time might think something like this. This music is so serene, direct and full of groove that, with your eyes closed, you would expect a band that has perfected their playing over the years.

In Hannes Stollsteimer, Frieder Klein, and Paul Albrecht, Manz has found three allies who - barely older and just as talented as he is - together realize a rousing vision of convincingly soulful jazz.

The now released album Natural Energy (April 2020, Act Music) sounds compositionally so mature that it doesn't take much courage to predict that you will hear a lot more from Jakob Manz.

Leo Asal (Drums), Frieder Klein (Bass), Jakob Manz (Saxophone), Hannes Stollsteimer (piano)

Manz and Summer are two of the most outstanding talents to emerge from the young German jazz scene in recent years.
As a duo, their dialogue is intimate, open and scintil-lating.
The saxophonist (b. 2001) has shown above all through his band the Jakob Manz Project that he is a passionate exponent of contemporary jazz-rock, playing “amazingly sophisticated, powerful, soulful-funky music with groove” (Jazzthing).
In partnership with Johanna Sum m er (b. 1995), he also shows his mastery of the quiet and the lyrical. German jazz icon Joachim Kühn admires his young pianist colleague, and is full of praise for her “music, so full of fantasy and beyond category”.
With Summer, nothing is ever done for the sake of surface effect; it is all about the storytelling, and her fully-formed instincts for dramaturgy, dynamics and harmony. From the very first note, it is evident how perfectly matched Manz and Summer are. A magic and freedom emerge in the way they play together.
Inspired by the spirit of discovery, they have the courage to surrender to the moment and be totally spontaneous, fresh and carefree in their musicmaking. Any flaws just become part of the charm. Manz and Summer's “Gallery Concert” is a musical prologue: one can still only guess where and how this artistic relationship, still in its early stages, might develop.

Jakob Manz (Saxophone), Johanna Summer (piano)

"Groove Connection" features the highly acclaimed German alto saxophonist Jakob Manz together with a band of international groove-jazz-greats. This album offers a close-up of what are probably his greatest strengths: the ability to enthral and delight an audience with soulful melody, his incisive soloing and his infallible sense of rhythm. This very rare combination of qualities was the starting point for producers Roberto Di Gioia and Siggi Loch, to which they added a top international top line-up...so the sparks could really fly. Loch comments: "Jakob Manz is an unbelievable talent. For me he stands in the tradition of great saxophonists such as Lou Donaldson, David Sanborn (his hero) and also Klaus Doldinger and his band “Passport”. All of these are musicians who found their characteristic sound on a foundation of jazz, which they combined with soul and blues, and became successful worldwide with it."
There are very few young jazz musicians who master their instrument with such complete and daunting virtuosity as Jakob Manz, and yet his playing always sounds so unpretentious, clear, soulful and at the service of the tune - all at the same time. His success in doing this is due on the one hand to his talent and the determination with which he works on his musical expression. On the other hand, it is also due to his will to inspire and touch the emotions of the audience with his music.
He says it is important to him that he should play his particular instrument, the alto saxophone, in a way that fills the room, but at the same time reaches each individual listener with directness and immediacy. And there is no doubt: he succeeds in this with flying colours, whether it's in a club, a large concert hall, a festival stage... or indeed wherever the listener might hear his new album.

Tim Lefebvre (bass), Per Lindvall (drums), Jakob Manz (Saxophone)

22.09.2023 CH - Basel Tinguely Museum - Basel Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer
27.09.2023 LU - Luxembourg Philharmonie Luxembourg Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer
09.10.2023 DE - Allensbach Gnadenkirche The Jakob Manz Project
13.10.2023 DE - Metzingen Motorworld Village Metzingen The Jakob Manz Project Tickets
14.10.2023 DE - Rastatt Reithalle Rastatt The Jakob Manz Project
18.10.2023 DE - Rheda-Wiedenbrück Abrahams The Jakob Manz Project
19.10.2023 DE - Schwetzingen Schlosstheater Schwetzingen The Jakob Manz Project
20.10.2023 DE - Merzhausen FORUM Merzhausen The Jakob Manz Project
21.10.2023 SE - Folkets Hus Kulturhuset The Jakob Manz Project
27.10.2023 DE - Leverkusen Ev. Christuskirche - Leverkusen-Mitte Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer
28.10.2023 DE - Saalfeld/Saale Kleine Bühne Saalfeld / Villa Weidig The Jakob Manz Project
03.11.2023 DE - Helmbrechts Oberfränkisches Textilmuseum Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer
18.11.2023 DE - Krün Schloss Elmau The Jakob Manz Project
25.11.2023 DE - Münsingen Zehntscheuer-Bürgerhaus Münsingen The Jakob Manz Project
02.12.2023 DE - Hameln Doubletime Jazz & Kultur Club Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer
02.02.2024 DE - Hameln Doubletime Jazz & Kultur Club The Jakob Manz Project
03.02.2024 DE - Minden Jazz Club Minden e.V. The Jakob Manz Project
04.02.2024 DE - Kassel Theaterstübchen The Jakob Manz Project
09.02.2024 DE - Dötlingen Kultur hinterm Feld The Jakob Manz Project
15.02.2024 DE - Regensburg Leerer Beutel The Jakob Manz Project
17.02.2024 DE - Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Kulturbahnhof Bad Homburg / Speicher The Jakob Manz Project
17.03.2024 DE - Kappelrodeck Vaya Casa The Jakob Manz Project
22.03.2024 DE - Feldafing Jazz am See The Jakob Manz Project
26.04.2024 DE - Paderborn Jazz-Club Paderborn The Jakob Manz Project
19.06.2024 DE - Berlin stARTfestival Jakob Manz & Johanna Summer