NILS WOGRAM NOSTALGIA || THINGS WE LIKE TO HEAR
To touch or to impress – that is the question. And the only question that counts on Things We Like To Hear,
the fifth album of Nils Wogram’s trio Nostalgia. Trombonist Nils Wogram, drummer Dejan Tersić and organist
Arno Krijger make it easy for the listener. With an obliging dub melody they, relaxed, make their way into an
album whose lightness they keep up in the following eight songs. They leave out everything that can be left
out and concentrate on the essentials. Although Wogram has shown often enough that he knows how to
implement complex ideas, now he is taking a new path. He lets himself fall into the music, enjoys the
moment, and feels comfortable with what he is doing without losing sight of his surroundings. Instead of
abstraction, the three musicians focus on emotionality. “Complexity and dissonance certainly belong to our
musical tradition,” says Wogram, “but complexity without a story or emotionality is difficult for me. The longer
I play, the greater my need to approach an essence. I have recorded some albums that are rhythmically or
harmonically very complex. I still like these records today, but for the moment I’m looking for something else.
I listen to great jazz musicians, right and left, who rely on this complexity, I am impressed by it, but often not
touched anymore. That’s why I’m trying to take some counter-measures and allow things that are simple on
the face of it.”