Saxophonist Florian Egli's band Weird Beard with Dave Gisler on
guitar, Martina Berther on bass and Rico Baumann on drums makes music that will move from a whisper to a scream, rooted in modern jazz but also drawing on a wide range of other influences. "The Meaning of Meaning" opens the album with subtle bass and drums developing a medium tempo, and Egli's saxophone entering with a dreamy tone. Gisler's guitar breaks out nicely; showering sparks over the proceedings, as the band moves to a more strident conclusion. Hazy saxophone and guitar set the tone for "Maja" with light toned saxophone lifting off on a bed of gentle guitar and percussion. The swirls and eddies from each instrument become more intense and prominent, deeply engaging with each other in improvisational dialogue. "No Man On" is short but very powerful, with heavy electric funk coming from the guitar, bass and drums and it makes for a nice contrast to hear Elgi's cool saxophone glide over such a nasty rhythm. Snarling guitar and whip cracking drums keep up a wicked beat, and Gisler develops another excellent guitar solo before the full band crashes to a ferocious ending. There is a long electronic tone and samples lending a feel of ominous abstraction to "Old Places." Heavily amplified guitar kicks off a massive wall of noise, which is met with heavy percussion. Choppy guitar and drums combine with urgent saxophone to make for a very exciting performance, powerful and heavy music that is driven relentlessly forward. "Waiting" has an odd elastic tone and rhythm, which builds to a nice fast pace, and a very fast collective improvisation that is complex and exciting. The music drops off into a quieter section where Gisler's guitar arcs through the air and the band finishes with a dynamic flourish. This album was quite interesting, because the band was comfortable playing both jazz and more experimental fare. They worked well together as a group, and also have some very potent soloists making them a band to be reckoned with.

http://jazzandblues.blogspot.ch/2016/06/florian-eglis-weird-beard-everything.html

In a rather disparaging comment about Switzerland, Orson Wells once said that the only thing that the country had contributed to world history was the wrist watch. Wells was not known for hyperbole but then he was not known to be as discerning about music as he should have been. Not as discerning as Intakt Records or Switzerland’s elder imprint, hatHUT. Too bad he did not live to see these entities rise to eminence today. It is fair to say that Intakt is a boutique label; small in size and the number of releases, perhaps, but big on musical and production quality which is the next best thing to the quality of artistry within Intakt’s portfolio.

Recent releases feature recordings by Tom Rainey with Ingrid Laubrock and Mary Halvorson, Ali Keïta with Jan Galega Brönnimann and Lucas Niggli, Sarah Buechi with Stefan Aeby, André Pousaz and Lionel Friedli, the Ulrich Gumpert Quartett featuring Gumpert, Jurg Wickihalder, Jan Roder and Michael Greiner, Florian Egli with Dave Gisler, Martina Berther and Rico Baumann and the great Pierre Favre together with Chris Jaeger, Markus Lauterburg and Valeria Zangger. This is a masterfully put-together roster with the very finest of European and American artists playing music that reaches inebriating heights. Drunk with this artistry it is not possible to come down to earth especially if you listen to one record after the other, as I did, which reminds me of the time I met Elvin Jones after a long session testing Zidjian cymbals. A head full of sound is putting it mildly. And yet, I cannot think of a better or easier way to choke myself with gold. Not now; not ever…

Florian Egli has been called by his most ardent fans a prince among saxophonists, a hyperbolic claim, some might argue, for a musician still so young. Yet his galvanic music is among the finest on record – on the Intakt imprint at least. Judging by the results of this programme it is hard to argue with any of that. Everything Moves is among the most compelling discs in recent memory. The airy saxophone that goads on an equally airy guitar held together by a deeply throbbing electric bass is quite distinctive. The performances of these musicians are revelatory of breathtaking beauty and incomparable power. Most striking, perhaps, is their unforced naturalness. Never waylaid by wealth of detail and opulent texture the harmonic moments are given singularity of purpose. Everything flows with the inevitability of speech, precisely articulated, direct and unmistakably sincere. Musical gestures are used with the utmost tact, enveloping appropriate passages in a shimmering aura that serves to heighten contour and colour. At the root of each piece is infallible rhythm, from whence branch and flower lilting pulses and a living, breathing rubato.

This is a kind of thrill-a-minute disc. The kinesthetic intoxication of the performance dazzles in a variety of originality of concept and execution. It is also viscerally thrilling. The suspicion is that bassist Martina Berther and drummer Rico Baumann have much to do with this. One is not wrong in assuming so. The rumbling voice of the former and the growling stutter of the latter make this music unpredictably brilliant.

https://jazzdagama.com/music/intakt-tom-rainey-pierre-favre/2/