Tobias Hoffmann
Tobias Hoffmann's sound world is a dense, experimental extract of the most diverse components. Jazz, blues, surf and electronic sounds meet, merge or contrast quite deliberately.
His compositions have the simplicity of songs, leaving the musicians plenty of room for improvisation and creativity. Tobias Hoffmann also impresses as an imaginative interpreter of jazz, blues and pop ‘standards’ and has made a name for himself as an expert in all the original styles of electric guitar. Tobias Hoffmann, born in 1982, initially taught himself to play the guitar at the age of six. Later, he took lessons in classical guitar and jazz guitar at the Bonn Music School. At the age of 18, he became a young student of jazz guitar at the Cologne Music Academy, where he began regular studies in 2002 and passed his diploma examination with the highest marks in September 2007.
Tobias Hoffmann is a sought-after musician in Germany and beyond. His musical career has taken him to many parts of the world, where he has performed at countless festivals. He has participated in radio productions by all major German broadcasting companies and can be heard on various CD releases under his own name and as a sideman.
2009 New German Jazz Prize with the Frederik Köster Quartet
2010 Horst and Gretl Will Scholarship (for jazz and improvised music) from the city of Cologne
2013 New German Jazz Prize with ‘Max Andrzejewski's Hütte’
2015 ECHO Jazz in the category National Guitarist for the album ‘Tobias Hoffmann Trio - 11 Famous Songs Tenderly Messed Up’
2016 WDR Jazz Prize in the category Improvisation
2018 ECHO Jazz Nomination Tobias Hoffmann Trio ’Blues, Ballads & Britney’
2010 Horst and Gretl Will Scholarship (for jazz and improvised music) from the city of Cologne
2013 New German Jazz Prize with ‘Max Andrzejewski's Hütte’
2015 ECHO Jazz in the category National Guitarist for the album ‘Tobias Hoffmann Trio - 11 Famous Songs Tenderly Messed Up’
2016 WDR Jazz Prize in the category Improvisation
2018 ECHO Jazz Nomination Tobias Hoffmann Trio ’Blues, Ballads & Britney’
Tobias Hoffmann is co-founder of the Cologne-based musicians' association KLAENG Jazzkollektiv e.V. and the record label Klaeng Records. (with Jonas Burgwinkel, Pablo Held, Sebastian Gille, Frederik Köster and Robert Landfermann) Tobias Hoffmann is professor of jazz/pop guitar and ensemble at the University of Music in Trossingen.
Press reviews:
Die ZEIT: ‘Tobias Hoffmann (...) is a guitarist who has developed his ideas to such an extent that every piece he plays, even the most well-known hit, immediately bears his stamp.’ (April 2017)
Wolf Kampmann (Jazz Journalist of the Year 2015, author of the Reclam Jazzlexikon) writes in June 2015: ‘Probably the best jazz guitarist in Germany at the moment’.
Jazzthetik: ‘Tobias Hoffmann, who should not be missing anywhere where contemporary guitar is concerned’ (May 2018)
Jazzthing: ‘If there were stars to rate here, Tobias Hoffmann would have to lay the universe at your feet.’ (Martin Laurentius, 2014)
You can find more about Tobias Hoffmann here: www.tobias-hoffmann.com and on Youtube