Elias Prinz

Munich based Gypsy Jazz guitarist Elias Prinz is strongly influenced by the musical language of the Sinti, Django Reinhardt and the modern Jazz Manouche scene, Elias Prinz elegantly blends contemporary elements into these influences while still loving and honoring the tradition of this music. Marco Pignataro - artistic director of the Berklee Global Jazz Institute (Boston, USA) “When he started playing, I was like, ‘What? What is this?’ And then I was like, ‘Oh, wait a second. This is really special.” In contrast to the performances earlier in the evening, Prinz’s music was intimate and unusual, influenced by the music of Django Reinhardt. “I felt he was bringing something not just that he loves but that he identifies [with] in a way that was extremely convincing,” Pignataro says. “So it wasn’t like hearing something nostalgic from the past. To me, he made that music really in-the-moment. He made it very relevant. After the set, the audience went crazy. Prinz was playing in a way that everybody could really connect with the emotions, it was how musical he was, how brilliantly expressive he was with his own music.”