On Trilogue, worlds collided. Mangelsdorff was at the forefront of Europe’s emancipation from American jazz; Mouzon had been part of the founding lineup of Weather Report; and Pastorius was on the verge of recording Weather Report’s milestone Heavy Weather. The common ground among Mangelsdorff—the one-man orchestra whose tone oscillated in countless colors—Pastorius the sonic alchemist, and Mouzon the pointillist, was their visual conception of sound. On Trilogue, three musicians carved an unconditional, open-ended path through the cosmos of their intentions. And in 1976, “unconditional” meant something entirely different than it does in 2026. Approaching such an album and reinterpreting it in a completely new setting is akin to climbing the Eiger’s north face without a rope. Yet in 2018, at the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, trombonist Nils Wogram, arranger Jim McNeely, and the HR Big Band dared to do just that. In Mangelsdorff’s hometown of Frankfurt, he is revered like a saint. Many in the audience had known the visionary, who passed away in 2005, personally or at least experienced him live. Wogram thus faced perhaps the most critical audience imaginable for such a project. The risk could not have been higher, and this momentum is palpable in every single note. 

1. Trilogue
2. Zores Mores
3. Foreign Fun
4. Accidental Meeting
5. An Ant steps on an Elephant's Toe
6. Yellow Hammer