Nils Wogram (born November 7, 1972 in Braunschweig, Germany) is a jazz trombonist, composer and bandleader. He counts as one of the most important jazz musicians in Europe. He began classical study at the age of fifteen. He was a member in the National German Youth Big Band, participated in classical competitions and formed his own bands at the age of 16. In 1992 he received a scholarship for the New School of New York City and stayed until 1994. During this time he released his debut album New York Conversations (1994) with his own Nils Wogram Quintett. Since then he has released more than 20 albums as a bandleader. In 1999 he graduated from Cologne University. In 2010 he started his own record label nwog-records. Nils Wogram’s bands play exclusively his own music and other ensembles commission pieces by him. He currently lives in Zürich and teaches at the conservatory in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Besides his own Bands, Nils Wogram was involved with other band projects. From 1994 to 2006 he played in the German jazz quintet Underkarl of the bass player Sebastian Gramss and was a member of the German jazz-rap band Jazzkantine for several years. Nils Wogram played with Kenny Werner, Rudi Mahall, Eugene Chadbourne and until today plays with the Aki Takase Quintet.
Nils Wogram’s music is highly rooted in the jazz tradition. Nevertheless he tries to find new ways in expanding this language by using chordal, formal, melodic and rhythmic material originally coming from other musical genres than jazz. Nils is a big fan of real bands with a unique ensemble sound. Most of his ensembles exist since a long time. He believes that the best music in history was played by working bands. In that sense Duke Ellington and Miles Davis are his role models as a band leader.