Supernova - Live at Alte Oper Frankfurt Jakob Manz

• 1 Eyes of Crystals (Live) 04:32
• 2 Islands (Live) 06:07
• 3 Polygon (Live) 05:33
• 4 Peace (Live) 05:17
• 5 Mr. M (Live) 06:59
• 6 Welt Hinter Glas (Live) 05:48
• 7 Forgotten World (Live) 06:46
• 8 Ich Wünsch Dir (Live) 05:34
• Total Runtime 46:36

Info for Supernova - Live at Alte Oper Frankfurt

Twenty-five-year-old German saxophonist Jakob Manz’s live album “Supernova”, recorded in front of 2,600 listeners in the Grand Hall of Frankfurt’s Alte Oper, makes clear: today’s jazz generation can still produce stars capable of captivating a large audience. At the same time, it proves that contemporary jazz from Germany can be exhilarating without sacrificing musical complexity or intensity. Above all, the album documents Jakob Manz’s extraordinary talent. Born in this century, he already possesses remarkable assurance and a strong sense of artistic identity – as well as the compelling ability to rise to the biggest occasions.

And the big occasion this certainly was. The concert on 27 January 2026 was the main event during Manz’s period as the youngest ever Artist-in-Residence at Frankfurt’s Alte Oper. The season he had in that role was a major success, with every single one of the events sold out, including this one, a programme specially constructed for the night.

What unites the remarkably varied programme of this extraordinary evening is a spirit of openness, authenticity and deep gratitude: it is all about Manz connecting with music he loves, with musicians who have inspired and shaped him, and about making a tangible rapport with audiences. The listener can feel the intimacy, the way he ‘shrinks the room’ when he steps into the limelight as soloist in a duo with Michael Wollny. It is a blessing that their affecting and beautiful live performance of Horace Silver’s “Peace” has been preserved. It is one highlight among many on this album. He also builds effective and easy collaborations with bassist Kinga Głyk, and with Nils Landgren whom he acknowledges as having inspired him deeply.

The roster of guests whom Manz invited to appear at the show is highly impressive. The album has two wonderful examples of Manz’s craft working with singers, as he takes a solo spot during songs by two of Germany’s big stars and makes a big impact (very differently) each time: he lifts the roof with intensity in Max Mutzke’s “Welt Hinter Glas”, and finds infinite tenderness in Sarah Connor’s “Ich Wünsch Dir” . That superb way of working with the singers is a trait which Manz has in common with one of his great heroes, saxophonist David Sanborn (1945-2024), whom Manz remembers specifically and in gratitude with a quote from Sanborn’s tune „Butterfat”: it is the first sound we hear on the opening track, “Eyes of Crystals”.

A review of the concert in the Frankfurter Rundschau loved the idea of Jakob Manz’s Supernova being “an exploding star... a sun bursting open.” This album confirms that kind of radiance; indeed it only brings good news, in that it confirms the hope and the expectation that, all being well, Jakob Manz is going to be brightening the sky of the music scene for many decades to come.

Jakob Manz, alto saxophone, recorder
Special Guests:
Kinga Glyk, bass
Max Mutzke, vocals
Michael Wollny, piano
Nils Landgren, trombone
Sarah Connor, vocals
The Jakob Manz Supernova Band:
Niko Zeidler, tenor saxophone, flute
Maximilian Seibert, trumpet
Jonathan Böbel, trombone
Ferdinand Schwartz, keyboards, musical director
Bruno Müller, guitar
Thomas Stieger, bass
Roland Peil, percussion
Felix Lehrmann, drums

Recorded live on 27 January 2026 at the Alte Oper Frankfurt as part of Jakob Manz’s Jazz Residency
Recorded by Dominik Arnold
Horn arrangements of Forgotten World & Island by Jakob Manz
Musical director & live arrangements by Ferdinand Schwartz
Mixed and mastered by Emanuel Uch

Jakob Manz
His music-making parents put it in his cradle: his talent for music. At the age of five, he hit the drums, at 8, the recorder was added, then the alto saxophone, with which he has remained. Someone like Jakob Manz is perceived as an exceptional talent. At the age of 15, he was already studying jazz & pop at the Musikhochschule Stuttgart. A year later, he was accepted into the Bundesjazzorchester (BuJazzO), with whom he performed in such sound-worthy concert halls as the Elbphilharmonie.

As a bandleader, he won 1st prize with his Jakob Manz Project at the Future Sounds 2018 of the Leverkusen Jazztage: standing ovations from the audience. Further awards followed, such as the Audience Award at the International Jazz Prize Biberach 2018. Since 2019, Manz has been studying jazz and pop saxophone at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. The saxophonist continuously works with his musical co-creators Paul Albrecht (dr) , Hannes Stollheimer (p), Frieder Kleins (e-b) to shape their group sound.

Jakob Manz has worked with Randy Brecker, Ack Van Rooyen, SWR BigBand, Wolfgang Dauner, Paul Heller, Wolfgang Niedecken (BAP), Günter Baby Sommer, Dusko Goykovich, Wildes Holz, Fola Dada, Klaus Graf, Wolfgang Schmid, Soul Diamonds and many more.

Booklet for Supernova - Live at Alte Oper Frankfurt