Nils Wogram

Nils Wogram, a trombonist and composer working in creative jazz, has appeared and made recordings across numerous configurations ranging from unaccompanied performances to sizable groups, issuing more than twenty albums in leading or shared leadership roles. Born during 1972 in Braunschweig, Germany, Wogram initiated his classical studies at the Braunschweig School of Music upon reaching twelve years of age. Multiple prizes at the Jegend Musiziert competition came his way, alongside additional recognitions and funding tied to his abilities in both jazz and classical realms.

During 1989 Wogram entered the German Federal Jazz Orchestra under Peter Herbolzheimer’s direction. Three years afterward he relocated to New York City for a two-year period funded by a grant that enabled enrollment at the New School, where he pursued studies in arrangement, composition, and trombone. While based in the United States he received instruction from Buster Williams, Reggie Workman, Jiggs Whigham, and Conrad Herwig. Under the Mons Records imprint he captured his first album, New York Conversations, in 1994.

Wogram assembled the Nils Wogram Quartet, whose members included cellist and bassist Henning Sieverts, pianist Simon Nabatov, and drummer Jochen Rueckert. Performing either solo or with the quartet, he appeared alongside the Frank Band, Gunter Hampel’s Next Generation, Jazzkantine, and additional ensembles at festivals and concerts worldwide. His second album, Round Trip, appeared on the Enja Records label in 1997. Speed Life followed a year later and contained tracks such as “King of Trash,” “Hotel Blues,” and “Circle.” Wogram concluded the 1990s with two duo projects: As We Don’t Know It, recorded with pianist Nabatov, and Serious Fun, made with fellow German trombonist Konrad Bauer.

Entering the new millennium Wogram maintained an extensive sequence of recording sessions that featured him directing an assortment of ensembles and revealed the trombonist’s breadth across post-bop, modern jazz, creative improvisation, and further idioms. The 2001 Enja release Odd and Awkward presented Wogram leading a sextet and octet that united creative jazz musicians from Europe and the United States. That same year he introduced Root 70, a quartet comprising saxophonist Hayden Chisholm, bassist Matt Penman, and drummer Rueckert, via a self-titled debut on the 2nd Floor label. Root 70 developed into one of Wogram’s most enduring groups, generating further albums across subsequent years and decades that encompassed Getting Rooted (2003, Enja), Fahrvergnügen (2006, Intuition), the dubbed-out nu jazz project Heaps Dub (2006, Nonplace), and several “Conceptual Works” releases: the imaginary jazz standards collection On 52nd 1/4 Street (2008, Intuition), the blues-oriented Listen to Your Woman (2011, NWOG), and the chamber-jazz-oriented Riomar (2014, NWOG).

Wogram also joined forces with the NDR Bigband for the 2007 Enja recording Portrait of a Band and investigated Hammond-organ-driven groove jazz through his Nostalgia trio, completed by organist Arno Krijger and drummer Dejan Terzic. The trio’s discography includes Daddy’s Bones (2004, Intuition), Affinity (2008, Intuition), and Sturm und Drang (2011, NWOG). Throughout the new millennium Wogram sustained duo activity and recording, most consistently with pianist Nabatov, resulting in the albums Starting a Story (2002, Act), The Move (2005, Between the Lines), Jazz Limbo (2007, Leo), and Moods and Modes (2011, NWOG). Wogram resides in Zurich, Switzerland, and has served on the faculty of the Lucerne School of Music since 2004.