Nils Wogram's new album Work Smoothly was actually recorded by the gifted leader of small ensembles with a large jazz orchestra. And not with just any big band, but with one of the flagships of the scene - the NDR Big Band. Wogram pulls out all the stops of the big band here. His aim is to feature the classic sections and functions of the Big Band and still make something very personal out of them. He uses these structures extremely variably and dynamically. It's about the story that wants to be told musically, not about the medium it's telling. The self-confidence with which a freelancer like Wogram writes his stories to an old-established ensemble like the NDR Bigband is impressive. He doesn't cut the sound colossus at any point in its power and fulminance, and yet the storylines are very small. The variety of colours and voices is made possible by Wogram's use of a variety of individual design options in addition to the band as a whole.
