Natural Energy

The Jakob Manz Project won 1st prize in the 2018 Future Sounds Competition at the Leverkusener Jazztage. In April 2018 the band also received both 1st prize and the audience award at the International Jazzpreis Biberach. Bandleader Jakob Manz (*16.05.2001) has played with renowned musicians such as Wolfgang Schmid, Randy Brecker, Ack van Rooyen and Wolfgang Dauner. At the age of just 16 he gained a place in Germany's Federal Youth Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO), and has performed in concert halls like Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie and the Philharmonie in Cologne, and toured in countries including the USA, Canada, Albania and the Netherlands.

"The young whippersnapper has beaten them all! Jakob Manz and his band went off in hot pursuit of the jazz spirit - and at the end the audience gave them a standing ovation." (The Kölner Stadtanzeiger newspaper reporting from the Leverkusener Jazztage)