SWR Jazz Prize 2017 for Christian Lillinger

Christian Lillinger has been awarded the 2017 SWR Jazz Prize, sponsored in equal parts by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate and Südwestrundfunk. The drummer, who was born in Lübben in 1984, will be presented with the award next fall at the international "Enjoy Jazz" festival in Ludwigshafen. Also nominated for the SWR Jazz Prize were pianist Simon Nabatov, cellist Elisabeth Coudoux and saxophonist Anna-Lena Schnabel. The jury's reasoning for awarding the prize to Lillinger was as follows: "Christian Lillinger is an exceptional figure in German jazz. Courageous and full of ideas, he constantly seeks to expand his spectrum of expression - and stands for the non-conformist nature of jazz as an art form. Lillinger's furious drumming is as sound-conscious as it is virtuosic and also stylistically extremely diverse. In addition to his activities as a driving force in collectively led bands such as Gropper/Graupe/Lillinger, the Trio Grünen or the quartets Amok Amor or KUU!, Lillinger has also repeatedly set strong accents as a composer for his sextet "Grund" in recent years.

The SWR Jazz Prize is the oldest jazz prize in Germany and will be awarded for the 37th time in 2017. The jury consists of two representatives each from SWR (Julia Neupert/chair of the jury and Günther Huesmann) and the state of Rhineland-Palatinate (Georg-Rudolf May, Hans-Jürgen Linke), a member of a jazz organisation (Frank Gratkowski, Union of German Jazz Musicians) and two independent music critics (Ulrich Kriest, Maxi Sickert). The prize is endowed with 15,000 euros.

The formation in which Lillinger will perform at Enjoy Jazz in Ludwigshafen at the dasHaus cultural center, as well as the date of the concert, will be announced shortly.