The Quarz Orchestra

The band first got together in Berlin in 2008 and today is an ensemble of six, with two creatives leading the way: Louise Gold, singer and songwriter, and Hans Quarz, trombonist and arranger. They write their songs together—an interesting combo, they agree, since Hans Quarz comes from jazz and Louise Gold from pop music. Their approaches to writing are totally different, and yet the result is synergistic. To use a film metaphor: Louise writes essays in the tradition of the European film d’auteur, which she dresses in harmonious atmospheric melodies, and Hans then arranges them for the silver screen, ingeniously and with a grand gesture. The sound that the two of them create is a genre of its own: pop in cinemascope. At first they were a quartet, playing as a swing band in Berlin’s jazz clubs. But a swing-corset quickly proved to be too tight for them and they started writing their own pieces. Their songs were recorded in a Berlin studio that exclusively uses equipment from the 1950s and 1960s, which charms music onto tape using methods from that time period: together with the entire band. That’s music in real time, nowadays a rare gift. It fits to their way of making music, they say. The music happens. Before and after there is space for thinking and considering, but while it is happening, it simply flows. After some changes in the lineup, today the Berlin Band is a set ensemble of six: Louise Gold (Vocals) Hans Quarz (Trombone) Thibault Falk (Piano) Florian Segelke (Guitar) Daniel Lunkenheimer (Drums) Hendrik Nehls (Bass)