Albert Mangelsdorff and his brother, saxophonist Emil, learned about jazz from secret meetings at the Frankfurt Hot Club during World War II. Albert subsequently became one of the most important and distinctive European jazz players of his era. He took up the trombone at the age of 20 and extended its range with the use of multiphonics (playing more than one note at a time). After touring as a member of the Newport International Band, he began to move towards free jazz and joined the Globe Unity Orchestra in the late 1960s. During the late 1970s Mangelsdorff often worked with French clarinetist Michel Portal, and in 1981 he co-founded the French/German Jazz Ensemble with J.F. Jenny-Clark. His prolific solo recording career includes albums for the MPS label, and duo sets with Lee Konitz and John Scofield, among many others.