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Jonas Sorgenfrei was born in 1993 in Nabburg (Bavaria, Germany) and began playing the drums at the age of five. After initial studies at regional music schools, he graduated in 2014 from the Berufsfachschule für Musik Nürnberg as a state-certified ensemble leader for popular music. He continued his studies at the University of Music Würzburg, earning a Bachelor’s degree in Jazz Drums in 2019, along with an additional pedagogical certificate in jazz vocals. Further studies led him to New York City in 2015, where he attended the Drummers Collective and the Manhattan School of Music. In 2021, he completed his Master’s degree in Jazz Drums with the highest honor at the University of Music Nuremberg, studying with Prof. Rainer Böhm and Lorenz Kellhuber.

 

His artistic work combines compositional finesse with a dynamic and colorful approach to the drum set. As a bandleader, he has released several recordings, including „Elephants Marching On“ (quartet, Unit Records, 2021), the trio album „Moods“ (2022), as well as live recordings produced in collaboration with the Deutschlandfunk and Bayerischer Rundfunk (2023 and 2025). In January 2026, his program "Cracks In The Silence" was released on Unit Records, marking his fifth release as a bandleader. As a co-bandleader, he has also released music with the Lou-Duo („Dreams of a little bird“, 2019; „Souvenir“, 2021) and the Playground Quartet („Odyssey“, 2020; „Pathways“, 2025). Debut releases of his projects Āso Ensemble and Soft Entropy are scheduled for 2026. Since 2025, he has been curating flexible “Invite” formats, fostering artistic, social, and intercultural exchange in a variety of settings.

 

Jonas is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including the University of Music Würzburg Promotion Award (2015), the Bruno Rother Prize, and a prize at the International Jazz Competition "Johnny Răducanu" in Brăila (2019). In 2021, he received several distinctions, among them awards at Jazzfrühling Kempten, the Young Munich Jazz Prize, and the Sparda Jazz Award. In 2023, he was awarded the Bavarian Art Promotion Prize in the category of Music. As a composer, he received artist grants from the German "Musikfonds" and "Initiative Musik" (2022 and 2025) and, in 2024, a composition commission for the German Human Rights Film Award.

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Teaching and social engagement are an integral part of his work. Since 2016, Jonas has been actively involved as a volunteer with the association „Willkommen mit Musik e. V.“, teaching drums, vocals, and German as a foreign and second language. In addition, he has been working as a private teacher for over 15 years.

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He has performed on international stages in Italy, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, England, Romania, and China, and has collaborated with a wide range of musicians from the jazz and pop scenes. A selected overview follows, along with press articles and further information on discography and collaborations.

 

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As a sideman he works f.e. with Izabella Effenberg, Matthias Schriefl, Nicole Johänntgen, Markus Harm, Jürgen Neudert, Sunday Night Orchestra, Rudi Engel, Christian Diener, Hubert Winter, Anton Mangold, Peter Adamietz, Norbert Emminger, Filip Wisniewski, Max Heimler, Felix Schneider-Restschikow, Valentin Louis Findling, Andi Schmid, Felix Wiegand, Peter Fulda, Paul Bernewitz, Vera Mohrs, Kostia Rapoport, Peter Willems, Tim Finoulst, 'Oumuamua Orchestra, or in the Lukas Langguth Trio.
 

He worked with Ack van Rooyen, Johannes Faber, Jim Black, Dave Weckl, Billy Drummond, Ari Hoenig, John Riley, Erivelton Silva, Rainer Böhm, Lorenz Kellhuber, Jochen Rückert, Bastian Jütte, Bill Elgart, Udo Dahmen, Ramesh Shotham, Jost Nickel, Gerwin Eisenhauer, Christoph Huber, Bernhard Pichl, Tine Schneider, Reinette van Zijtveld-Lustig, Silke Straub, Sara Decker, Michelle Walker, Sabine Kühlich, Henning Sieverts, Martin Auer, Florian Trübsbach, Lage Lund, Justin Faulkner, Matt Brewer, Jesse Davis, Mike Moreno, Matt Penman, Chris Cheek, Ralph Moore and Eberhard Weber among others.