«Work Smoothly»: Zurich Jazz Orchestra and Nils Wogram

Nils Wogram is artist in residence at the jazz club Moods from July 4th – 6th 2021. On July 5th 2021 he will perform together with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra. The programme is called “Work Smoothly” and is a Swiss premiere.

Wogram’s intensive study of the possibilities and history of the big band has another side effect. Regardless of the specific compositions that the trombonist has written for the band, he also tells the story of the big band in equal measure. George Gershwin, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Henry Mancini, Quincy Jones, Gil Evans, Carla Bley and Django Bates – they all seem to be looking unobtrusively over Wogram’s shoulder. He does not copy or imitate anything, but he allows these references intuitively.
Everything sounds surprising and new, and yet it also seems familiar and corresponds with progressive memory. “It was important to me that in the end I not only find myself as the front man, but that all musicians involved feel comfortable with it.”

Nils Wogram and the Zurich Jazz Orchestra at Jazzclub Moods (September 21st 2017)