Quadro Nuevo

Although headquartered in Germany, the acoustic jazz quartet Quadro Nuevo focused its artistic drive on reviving fading European musical traditions across the continent, with particular emphasis on tango. Guitarist Robert Wolf, reedist Mulo Francel, accordionist Andreas Hinterseher, and bassist D.D. Lowka formed the group in Salzburg in 1996. Tasked at the outset with creating film music for Austrian broadcaster ORF, the four musicians quickly discovered common ground in their varied backgrounds and shared taste for nostalgia; during the following decade they completed more than 1,500 concerts throughout Europe, shaping a singular acoustic sound that fused flamenco, Balkan swing, traditional folk, and avant-garde improvisation. Their first album, Luna Rossa, appeared in 1998, yet their commercial breakthrough arrived six years later with the fifth release, Mocca Flor, which reached the top of the German world music charts and climbed to number three on the national jazz listing. Tango Bitter Sweet arrived in 2007.

Three albums followed in 2008: Cine Passion, devoted to movie themes, the seasonal collection Weihnacht, and Antakya, featuring folk and dance songs. Intensive touring came next. That November a speeding car struck their tour bus, leaving guitarist Robert Wolf with critical injuries and paralysis from the neck down; he never performed again and died in 2015 from complications related to the accident. Harpist Evelyn Huber and pianist Chris Gall took his place.

In 2009 Quadro Nuevo contributed to Italienische Reise, which set lyrics by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe together with Ulrich Tukur, Ulrike Kriener, and Frank T. Zumbach. The Echo, the German Phono Academy’s highest honor in the Jazz/World Music category for Best Live Act, was awarded to the quartet in both 2010 and 2011.

Over the ensuing years the musicians appeared in venues ranging from Sydney, Australia, to Montreal and Ottawa, from Kuala Lumpur to Istanbul, from New York to Mexico City, and from Beijing, Seoul, and Singapore to Tunis, Tel Aviv, and the Baltics. In Concert was issued in 2012, followed by End of the Rainbow with the NDR Pops Orchestra and the holiday set Bethlehem. The conceptual audiobook Lieben Sie Tango?, assisted by actors Dominic Raacke and Caroline Ebner, appeared in 2014. That same year the group recorded Tango in Buenos Aires, releasing it the following year. A 2016 collaboration with Münchner Symphoniker produced Music for Christmas Nights, and in 2017 the quartet joined the German-Egyptian collective Cairo Steps for Flying Carpet.