Julius Gawlik is a saxophonist and clarinetist living in Berlin, Germany. Born 1997 in Landau/Pfalz into a musical family he picked up the clarinet at age 12, quickly followed by the tenor saxophone. At age 16 he was awarded an outstanding soloist scholarship by the Temple University Philadelphia. After attending a pre-college program at the Hfm Mainz he moved to Berlin, graduating from the Jazz-Institut Berlin in 2021 where he studied with Peter Weniger, Greg Cohen and Reggie Moore. Other mentors include Jim Black, Claudius Valk and George Garzone. He was part of the German National Youth Jazz Orchestra from 2016-2019. 2019 Julius Gawlik received the Jazz-Prize of the Karl Hofer Gesellschaft as a soloist. Since 2021, he is a member of the NDR Bigband.
A bold and versatile improviser both on saxophone and clarinet, his strikingly personal playing can be heard both as a leader and a sideman in various projects of the European Jazz and Avantgarde scene. Gawlik’s playing is the product of a fierce dedication to his craft, and his individuality paints itself on the canvas of his love and intimate knowledge of the music. While his musical influences and interests reach from classical music and composition to Folk and Indie, Julius Gawlik’s playing and writing always is in engagement with Black American Music.
In recent years, Julius Gawlik has had the honor of playing and recording with Jim Black, Phil Donkin, Evi Fillipou, George Garzone, Tim Hagans, Wanja Slavin, Johannes Lauer, Uli Kempendorff, Jeff Ballard, Michael Attias, Felix Henkelhausen, Asger Nissen and others. He has toured extensively in over 20 countries with appearances at the London Jazzfestival, Kopenhagen Jazz, the Northsea Jazz Festival and many more.