Prof. Tobias Hoffmann

Tobias Hoffmann's unique world of sound is a dense, experimental extract of the most diverse components. Jazz, blues, surf and electronic sounds meet and merge - or deliberately contrast. His compositions have the simplicity of songs. This leaves the musicians plenty of room to improvise and create. In his trio, Tobias Hoffmann also impresses as an imaginative interpreter of “standard” material from jazz, blues and pop and has made a name for himself as an expert in all original styles of electric guitar playing. Tobias Hoffmann, born in 1982, first learned to play the guitar self-taught at the age of six. He later took lessons in classical guitar and jazz guitar at the Bonn Music School. At the age of 18, he became a junior student of jazz guitar at the Cologne University of Music, where he studied regularly from 2002 and graduated with top 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 taken part in radio productions for all major German radio stations and can be heard on various CD releases under his own name and as a sideman. 2009 New German Jazz Award 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 Award with “Max Andrzejewski's Hütte”. 2015 ECHO Jazz in the National Guitarist category for the album “Tobias Hoffmann Trio - 11 Famous Songs Tenderly Messed Up”. 2016 WDR Jazz Award in the improvisation category. 2018 ECHO Jazz nomination Tobias Hoffmann Trio “Blues, Ballads & Britney” Tobias Hoffmann is co-founder of the Cologne musicians' association KLAENG Jazzkollektiv e.V. and the Klaeng Records label (with Jonas Burgwinkel, Pablo Held, Sebastian Gille, Frederik Köster and Robert Landfermann).

Press reviews:
 

• Die ZEIT: “Tobias Hoffmann (...) is a guitarist who has already worked out his ideas to such an extent that every piece he plays, even the best-known hit, immediately bears his stamp.”(April 2017)
   
• Wolf Kampmann (Jazz Journalist of the Year 2015, author of the Reclam Jazzlexikon) wrote in June 2015: “Probably the best jazz guitarist in Germany at the moment”.
   
• Jazzthetik: “Tobias Hoffmann, who should not be missing anywhere when it comes to contemporary guitar” (May 2018)
   
• Jazzthing: “If there were stars to rate Tobias Hoffmann, you would have to lay the universe at his feet.”(Martin Laurentius, 2014)
   
• Greg Cohen (bassist/producer for Tom Waits, John Zorn and many others): “One of Germany's most creative and original voices in guitar.”