Rainer Böhm received piano lessons from the age of four. As a teenager, he founded his own jazz trio. From 1997 to 2001, he studied jazz and popular music at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts. He completed his studies in jazz piano with Joerg Reiter and classical piano with Andrea Breichler with top marks; between 1998 and 2000 he was a member of the Bundesjazzorchester. From 2007 to 2009, he completed a master’s degree at Queens College in New York City with a scholarship from the DAAD.
In New York, Böhm formed a trio with Jeff Hirshfield and the Scottish bassist Aidan O’Donnell, which released the album Red Line in 2009 and also toured Germany in 2010. In 2011, he released the album Berlin – New York with Ben Kraef. He played with his sextet Groove in the 2021 Radio Edition of JazzFest Berlin. He has also played with the Mannheim-based group L 14, 16 for many years and has toured with numerous renowned musicians in recent years and, according to Jazz Podium, has “achieved an extraordinary presence in the scene”.
As a professor of jazz piano and ensemble conducting, he teaches at the University of Music in Nuremberg and at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Mannheim.
Böhm won first prize at the jazz competition in Sigmaringen with his trio at the age of 18. This was followed two years later by first prize at the jazz competition in his home town. He has also won numerous prizes at competitions as a soloist, including first prize at the International Piano Solo Competition in Freiburg in 2007. In 2010, he was honoured with the Baden-Württemberg Jazz Prize as “a highly virtuoso and creative pianist who was able to impress as an outstanding soloist and sensitive accompanist in all his formations, including with American and European musicians” (Bernd Konrad on the jury’s decision to award the Baden-Württemberg Jazz Prize 2010).
For the CD recorded with L 14, 16, the musicians received the German Record Critics’ Quarterly Award in 2003; the album was also named “CD of the Month” by the trade magazine Audio in June 2003. In 2016, he received the soloist prize of the New German Jazz Award and 1st prize as a member of the Bastian Jütte Quartet.
