A balanced combination of minimal music, complex rhythms, singing melodic lines and multidimensional harmonies characterises Benedikt Jahnel’s playing.
With his compositions, the Berlin-based pianist creates filigree structures that exert an almost magical pull on the listener. His second passion, mathematics, flows into his music in the best sense: crystal-clear transparency and large forms frame strong moods. Concert tours to nearly 50 countries, performances at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz Baltica and Carnegie Hall New York, as well as numerous recordings as sideman and soloist on ECM and ACT bear witness to his boundless creativity and energy.
Benedikt Jahnel, born on 28 May 1980, started piano lessons at the age of ten; his joy in playing together with others soon led him to improvisation and jazz. He was a member of the Bavarian and the German National Youth Jazz Orchestras and, as a teenager, founded the group bab.jazzconnection, known today as Max.bab. He studied jazz piano at the Berlin University of the Arts with Hubert Nuß and David Friedman and at City College New York with John Patitucci, Garry Dial, Clarence Penn, Kenny Werner and Jean-Michel Pilc.
Benedikt is best known for the music of his trio; as a sideman he is known, among others, from the band Cyminology. Concert tours took him to almost 50 countries, including the USA, Japan, Kazakhstan, Syria, Ghana and Indonesia. He has played concerts and projects with Phil Woods, Rich Perry, Charlie Mariano, David Friedman, Frank Möbus, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Dave Liebman, John Abercrombie, Manfred Eicher, Clarence Penn, Dan Weiss, Kate McGarry and John Clayton, among others.
Benedikt can be heard on numerous recordings. The trio albums “Equilibrium” (2012) and “The Invariant” (2017) were released on the Munich label ECM and celebrated by the international press. The new trio album “Amenable” will be released on embab on 27 November 2026.
Benedikt also holds a doctorate in mathematics and is professor of applied stochastics at Technische Universität Braunschweig. In addition, he leads a research group at the Weierstrass Institute Berlin. His research focuses on Gibbs measures, interacting particle systems and mobile networks. More on his mathematics website.
