The tenth day of the Intakt Records Festival continues with another exciting double bill. Florian Egli Weird Beard, folowed by Steve Beresford & Julian Sartorius
FLORIAN EGLI WEIRD BEARD
Florian Egli: Saxophone
Dave Gisler: Guitar
Martina Berther: E-Bass
Rico Baumann: Drums
Bugge Wesseltoft has explained why he is such a fan of the quartet Weird Beard, led by Zurich saxophonist Florian Egli : “What I really love about Weird Beard is the band members’ musical ideas and inspirations merged into a very fresh and new sound. Hardcore and progrock-like guitar ideas, “closetoprogrammed” and sequenced inspired drums mixed with eclectic “mountainechoed” saxophone and some real deep, free, inspired bass playing.”
Weird Beard’s 2016 album “Everything Moves” is full of character, and draws the listener in. Alongside lyrical episodes, the band has a completely positive and knowing way of creating a deeply unsettled feel. As Florian Keller has written in the liner notes: “..the music of Weird Beard lives and breathes. It contemplates the wide vistas and the laconic calm of a northern European landscape, with a Nordic melancholy hanging like a cloud over it. The listener can be lulled blissfully by warm melodies and sensuous phrases. By turns, Weird Beard can be elegiac, but also perky and upbeat. Sometimes there’s softness and fragility, but then it will turn explosively loud, and it has every possible shade in between.”
STEVE BERESFORD – JULIAN SARTORIUS
Steve Beresford: Piano
Julian Sartorius: Drums
For more than forty years, Steve Beresford has remained one of the prominent figures in the landscape of improvisation in the UK. He has worked with Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, John Butcher, John Zorn, Han Bennink, Christian Marclay, and the legendary free improv band Alterations.
When we invited Steve to participate in the Intakt Festival in London, he replied, “Sure, thank you, with pleasure.” However, when we made our first programming suggestion, his response was, “No thanks, what else is on on offer?” Thank goodness he did, because what has emerged is a genuinely exciting first encounter. Steve Beresford will work with the young, internationally successful Swiss drummer Julian Sartorius. Sartorius has played for a few years with the singer Sophie Hunger, he is now with pianist Colin Vallon’s trio, and that of Sylvie Courvoisier. He also has a collaboration with New York bassist Shahzad Ismaily. Sartorius’ solo album “Zatter”, released in 2015, opens up a fantastic world of sounds and rhythms – and also heads off into the world of the quiet, the contemplative and the abstract.
INTAKT FESTIVAL
A festival celebrating one of the most imaginative record labels in Europe today. The artists on the label range from Barry Guy (who will be celebrating his 70th birthday in 2017), the best of NY Downtown, such as Ingrid Laubrock and Mary Halvorson, through the cream of European improvisation, including Irene Schweizer and Alexander von Schlippenbach, to the best of Swiss jazz, such as Lucas Niggli, Sarah Buechi and Andreas Schaerer.