The Goldene Sieben ("Golden Seven") was a German

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

ensemble. The Goldene Sieben was created in 1934 as the

house band A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which ...

for the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

-based label Electrola.

Henri René Henri René (born Harold Manfred Kirchstein; December 29, 1906 – April 25, 1993), was an American musician who had an international career in the recording industry as a producer, composer, conductor and arranger. Early years Born in New York ...

picked its initial members from noted local ensembles, but by 1935 the group was led by

Georg Haentzschel Georg Haentzschel ( 23 December 1907, Berlin – 12 April 1992, Cologne) was a German pianist, broadcaster, composer and arranger. Haentzschel studied at the Stern Conservatoire in Berlin and made a career which eventually left him as the last ...

. The group was broadcast on radio, though its contract forbade them from performing live. They appeared in the 1937 film '' Heimweh'' and recorded extensively.

Members

;Trumpet * Kurt Hohenberger ;Trombone *

Willy Berking Willy Berking (22 June 1910 – 21 May 1979) was a German orchestra conductor, trombonist and composer. Career Berking studied music (piano and composition) in Düsseldorf and then in Berlin, where he formed his first big band at the age of 1 ...

* Erhard Krause ;Guitar/Banjo *

;Clarinet *

Ernst Höllerhagen Ernst Höllerhagen (October 5, 1912 in Barmen – July 11, 1956 in Interlaken) was a German jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuri ...

* Franz Thon ;Saxophone * Eddie Brunner * Kurt Wege ;Piano * Willy Stech * Peter Igelhoff *

;Drums *

Freddie Brocksieper Fritz "Freddie" Brocksieper (August 24, 1912 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire – January 17, 1990) was a German jazz-musician, drummer, and bandleader. Early life Brocksieper was born in Constantinople. At a young age in 1917, he observed militar ...

References

*Rainer E. Lotz, "Goldene Sieben". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', 1994, pp. 435–436. {{Authority control German jazz ensembles