Max Frankl

Frankl was born in the outskirts of Munich, Germany in 1982. Admittedly, growing up he wasn't a jazz buff, but, instead, his earliest musical inspirations were Nirvana, Guns N' Roses, and Soundgarden. At 13, his father took him to a big band concert and the energy and freedom of the music woke something up in his soul. He woodshedded guitar for two years straight before he joined his school jazz band. While in jazz band, he fell in love with improvisation. Max Frankl has been inspired by an eclectic array of jazz icons and iconoclasts, along with fringe musical offshoots inspired by jazz's exploratory spirit. A cross section of his artistic beacons include Maria Schneider, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Aaron Parks, Radiohead, Pat Metheny, Ben Monder, and Kurt Rosenwinkel. Frankl became the first German guitarist to join the Official European Jazz Orchestra, he won the prestigious ECHO-Jazz award, the European Music Composers Scholarship as well as he toured extensively throughout Germany, most of Europe, Africa, and shared the stage with such venerated artists as Lee Konitz, Benny Golson, Nils Wogram and Johannes Enders, among others. At least Frankl released educational books, published by the prestigious AMA Publishing and founded the Max Frankl Academy, where he shares his knowledge and publishes a new podcast episode every week presenting guests like Ben Monder, Nir Felder, or Julian Lage.