Maik Krahl

"Maik Krahl represents his generation’s current top of the German jazz trumpeter. His musical statements enrich me and let me look forward into a future of a whole genre, which will always exist. Big compliment!"

- Till Brönner


Maik Krahl completed his jazz studies at Carl Maria von Weber Hochschule für Musik Dresden and also studied the Master of Music Jazz Improvising Artist at Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen. His most influencing teachers were Till Brönner, Malte Burba and the American jazz trumpet player Ryan Carniaux.

His first album Decidophobia was released in 2018 with Double Moon / Challenge Records International. His second album Fraction featuring Seamus Blake was released two years later in May 2020 with Challenge Records International. With his own quartet, Krahl plays numerous concerts in all important jazz clubs all over Germany as well as at festivals such as International Jazz Week Burghausen, JazzBaltica, Hildener Jazztage, Trave-Jazz Festival, Jazzfest Bingen or Birdland Radio Jazz Festival. His third album In-Between Flow was released in September 2022 and features world famous guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel. His new album The Magic of Consistency will be released in November 2024 and features Seamus Blake on Saxophone.

Besides working as a band leader Krahl is a steady part of the Cologne based Subway Jazz Orchestra. With this big band he recorded five albums: Primal Scream (2015), State of Mind (2016), Richbeck Suite (2018), Still Screaming (2020) and You are the Universe (2023). Krahl joined the WDR Big Band as a guest musician in productions and concerts. Furthermore, he won the HI Five Music Award in 2023 and is a three-time scholarship winner of the Werner Richard - Dr. Carl Dörken Stiftung – most recently with his quartet.

Concerts brought him to Greece, Guinea-Bissau, Canada, Croatia, Lithuania, Serbia, Senegal, and the US. Traveling the world allowed him to work with musicians like John Clayton, Kurt Elling, Maria Schneider, Benny Green, Jeff Hamilton, Ingrid Jensen, John Ruocco, and Jiggs Whigham.