Graf picked up the guitar at 6 years of age. His father Joschi Graf taught him the first chords and the rhythm playing on the guitar. A short time later he started to study the melody or solo guitar autodidactic. He focused strongly on his role modelDjango Reinhardt, by listening to his recordings and playing with them. At the age of 12 he had his first guest appearances in his father's band. Graf formed his first band in 2008 under the name 16 Gypsy Strings. Other members besides Graf were Jan Jankeje and Graf's father Joschi. The band toured Germany and neighboring countries before it disbanded in early 2010. In the fall of 2010 Graf founded the Gismo Graf Trio with his father Joschi Graf on the rhythm guitar and the Stuttgart bassist Joel Locher. The first concert took place on 1 October 2010, on Graf's eighteenth birthday at the guitar festival in the sold-out Wehrer Stadthalle. Already the same year he succeeded with his album Absolutely Gypsy and the eponymous tour great sensation on the Gypsy jazz scene. In the following years Graf toured with his trio through Germany, Europe and the USA. Among others, they performed at the festival Django Reinhardt Samois-sur-Seine, the Viersen Jazz Festival, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Zelt-Musik-Festival Freiburg, the international Gipsy Guitar Festival Gossington, the Blue Balls Festival Luzern, the Festival Django a Liberchies, the Villa CelimontanaJazz FestivalRome, and many others. In 2012, the Austrian publisher Doblinger published the book "Swing Up Your Guitar! Modern Gypsy Jazz Collection ", in which Graf had joint autorship. Graf worked with musicians like Stochelo Rosenberg, Ludovic Beier, Diknu Schneeberger, Tony Lakatos, Jermaine Landsberger, Olaf Polziehn, Tim Kliphuis, Davide Petrocca.
Guitars
Graf, as his father Joschi, plays guitars of the German guitar builder Stefan Hahl, the model specifically for them La Comtesse developed. Likewise, Graf and his father play guitars by Italian luthier Mauro Freschi. He signed in 2015 an endorsement contract with a French guitar company for a semi-acoustic archtop jazz guitar.
