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Tobias Meinhart

Born in a small village in rural Bavaria, Tobias Meinhart has been carving out a career for himself in the international jazz scene. Since his modest beginnings in Woerth, the tenor saxophonist has garnered acclaim in both Europe and the United States, earning a nomination for an ECHO award in 2016 and claiming residency at renowned New York City jazz venues such as The Blue Note, The Jazz Gallery, Jazz at Lincoln Center and Birdland.

Tobias began his musical life as a drummer before switching to the saxophone at age thirteen. He found inspiration in his grandfather, a classically trained bassist who began playing jazz in many of the U.S. Army clubs after World War Two. This early and intimate exposure to the music had a profound effect on young Tobias, leading him to hone his skills to a tee and win first prize in Germany’s Jugend Jazzt competition.

After touring throughout Germany with his quartet Fourscore, Tobias went to study at the Basel Music Academy in Switzerland, where the renowned European saxophonist Domenic Landolf served as his mentor. His teachers included Adrian Mears, Jorge Rossy and Wolfgang Muthspiel. He then went on to the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Bern University for the Arts to study with Ferdinand Povel and Andy Scherrer.

While still a student, Tobias caught the attention of critics and audiences throughout Europe. His band won first prize at the 2009 Startbahn Jazz Competition, as well as the “Audience Award for Best Group” at the 2009 Getxo Jazz Festival in Bilbao, Spain. Already endowed with more real world experience than many musicians have long after leaving school, Tobias graduated with honors and received a diploma in Jazz Performance and Music Education the same year that he won the prize at Getxo.

Shortly after Graduation, Tobias moved to New York City and quickly became immersed in the city’s highly competitive music scene. In 2012 he received his Master’s Degree from the Aaron Copland School of Music, where he studied with Antonio Hart, John Ellis and Seamus Blake. 2012 was also the year that Tobias returned to Getxo, now with his quintet, and earned not only first prize for the band’s outstanding performance, but also the “Best Soloist” award, and the opportunity to open for of his most forceful inspirations, Wayne Shorter.

He has five albums out under his own name, with his newest effort, Berlin People, released in Spring 2019 on Sunnyside Records. It is a new band including guitar icon Kurt Rosenwinkel.

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Album Review

Tobias Meinhart: Sonic River

Read "Sonic River" reviewed by Vic Albani


Bavarese trapiantato a Brooklyn da quasi un ventennio, Tobias Meinhart è un altro dei tanti nomi pressoché sconosciuti alle nostre latitudini. Mescolando il groove jazz con la narrazione poetica il sassofonista e flautista è da anni una presenza costante della scena newyorkese new mainstream. Come insegnano le note relative a questo suo nuovo lavoro inciso per la propria etichetta, i fiumi hanno sempre avuto un ruolo importante nella sua vita: se ai tempi della scuola il sassofonista, ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Tobias Meinhart, Vincent Peirani, Mathias Landaeus, Jon Irabagon & More

Read "Tobias Meinhart, Vincent Peirani, Mathias Landaeus, Jon Irabagon & More" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Music that was recorded live, music that is about to be (or has just been) performed live, and music that is keeping us alive, in this lively set.Happy listening!Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Ballaké Sissoko, Vincent Segal, Emile Parisien, Vincent Peirani “Orient Express" Les Égarés (No Format!) 0:16 Host talks 6:04 Vincent Peirani, Federico Casagrande, Ziv Ravitz “Salsa Fake" Jokers--Live at Bimhuis (ACT) 7:37 Host talks 20:32 Tobias ...

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Album Review

Tobias Meinhart: The Painter

Read "The Painter" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


During the past decade of working the jazz clubs of New York, German tenor saxophonist Tobias Meinhart has soaked up every inch of the musical tradition he started pursuing as a drummer in Bavaria in his early teens. A keen ear for melodic development, a gift for harmonic oversight and the whims for rhythmic intricacy already graced the saxophonist's last outing, Berlin People (Sunnyside, 2018), featuring the distinctive playing of Kurt Rosenwinkel. On The Painter, however, Meinhart has now also ...

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Album Review

Tobias Meinhart: Berlin People

Read "Berlin People" reviewed by Friedrich Kunzmann


For this outing as a leader, New York-based saxophonist Tobias Meinhart has assembled a team of musicians who are all based in Berlin and have studied under Kurt Rosenwinkel. The guitarist, another Berliner, is featured on just over half of the nine, highly melodic and mostly original compositions. Within that tuneful paradigm, the material is varied, as just four examples will attest. “Mount Meru" establishes the groundwork for a rhythmically dichotomous exercise that gives Meinhart and Rosenwinkel plenty ...

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Album Review

Tobias Meinhart: Natural Perception

Read "Natural Perception" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Presenting his debut recording on the Munich-based ENJA Records, Natural Perception is Bavarian-born and Brooklyn, New York-based saxophonist Tobias Meinhart's fourth album as leader delivering a rich palette of swinging modern jazz deserving serious attention. On tap are six Meinhart originals as well as fresh new arrangements of Harry Warren's classic “You're My Everything," and Bill Frisell's “Throughout." Though a veteran of the European jazz environment, since moving to the Big Apple, the saxophonist has become a much in-demand player ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Sonic River

Sonic River Records
2025

buy

Dark Horse

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

The Painter

Sunnyside Records
2021

buy

Berlin People

Sunnyside Records
2019

buy

Silent Dreamer

Enja Records
2017

buy

Natural Perception

Enja Records
2016

buy

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