About Florian Schantz:
- Started playing trumpet at age 6 at the NJ Workshop for the Arts with Dr. Ted Schlosberg
- Played in Wilson School intermediate 5th grade band while in 2nd grade (age 7)
- Started playing in the NJWA Rockin’ Jazz Ensemble (age 8)
- Commenced jazz-specific training with Cadillac Phil Rinaldi (age 9)
- Started his own jazz band, the Florian Schantz Jazz Combo (age 9)
- Played his first professional paying gigs (age 10)
- Joins American Weldery and Steel Band, Sharpshooters Band of Northern NJ and Cadillac Phil’s Festival Band playing lead cornet (age 11)
- Played first gigs in NYC Jazz Clubs (age 11)
- Conducts first educational program (age 11)
- Received the Louis Armstrong Award for trumpet (age 11)
- First professional performances in Europe (age 12)
- Starts teaching private lessons to trumpet students (age 12)
- Starts offering music therapy programs (age 13)
- First multi-county library tour (age 13)
- Plays his 200th gig ((age 14)
- Plays his 300th gig (age 15)
- Florian plays the Flügelhorn, trumpet and cornet, cornopean, flugelbone, piccolo trumpet, valve trombone, baritone and euphonium. He also plays the conch shell and the jug and dabbles with the French horn, theremin, alto saxophone and slide trombone for fun.
- In the Guinness Book of World Records– participated in the record setting conch shell blowing feat (largest conch shell group in the world!)
- Musical influences: Bix Beiderbecke, Wild Bill Davison, Louis Armstrong, Muggsy Spanier, Eddie Condon, Stan Getz, Robert Maxwell, Perez Prado, Ray Conniff, Mitch Miller
- Music played: Dixieland and other traditional jazz, Broadway standards, international music, historical music, devotional, ragtime, blues; Latin and commercial music
Please visit the “Past Performances” page for more info
