FLORIAN EGLI WEIRD BEARD – Everything Moves
Intakt Records: Intakt CD 265
Florian Egli: saxophone; Dave Gisler: guitar; Martina Berther: e-bass; Rico Baumann: drums.
Recorded: June 2014, Studio Black Box, Noyant la Grovoyere, France.
This is a delicious slice from the hinterland of jazz and the more experimental ends of Prog Rock. On first hearing, the most striking element is the range of guitar styles produced by award-winning guitarist Dave Gisler (who also plays on the recent ‘Pilgrim’ CD reviewed on this site). These range from fuzz-saturated extremes on the opening track, ‘The meaning of meaning’, the fourth track ,‘No man on’, or the seventh track, ‘Waiting’, to a rich treble of the solo on the title track. One of the many intriguing aspects of this set is the way in which his guitar sounds like two completely different players. Over this, Egli’s saxophone weaves a delicate web across the pieces that he composed for the group.
In the liner notes, Egli says that this was a group that had rehearsed the day prior to recordings and then, on the day on the recording session, first saw the charts for the collection of pieces here. I guess that Egli had some idea in his mind before the recording began, and that this idea was sketched on his compositional charts, but that the interplay of musicians here and the grooves that they found would have lifted these beyond his imaginings. This is partly down to the richness of the conversation that the band strikes up in their playing, and partly due to the way in which the pieces are recorded. Special mention must be given to sound engineer David Odlum creates the effects in the studio ‘live’, as the band play, making it sound as if there are over-dubs, echoes and effects across all the instruments. In some places, these effects come from the musicians themselves, and I imagine the bass, guitar and sax surrounded by a plethora of effects pedals to distort and extend their sounds.
Each piece begins with a composition by Egli and he brings to these pieces echoes of the jazz canon that form the basis for simple, repeated themes. For example, I definitely heard the falling phrase from main theme of Mingus’ ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ on the title track here, played with a languid grace that pulls the track into a slow two-step. In other places, the themes have ghostly, half-familiar echoes of the jazz tradition pushed through a kaleidoscopic lens, so that you aren’t really sure what style of music you are listening to, but convinced that this is music worth listening to.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Intakt Records: Intakt CD 265
Florian Egli: saxophone; Dave Gisler: guitar; Martina Berther: e-bass; Rico Baumann: drums.
Recorded: June 2014, Studio Black Box, Noyant la Grovoyere, France.
This is a delicious slice from the hinterland of jazz and the more experimental ends of Prog Rock. On first hearing, the most striking element is the range of guitar styles produced by award-winning guitarist Dave Gisler (who also plays on the recent ‘Pilgrim’ CD reviewed on this site). These range from fuzz-saturated extremes on the opening track, ‘The meaning of meaning’, the fourth track ,‘No man on’, or the seventh track, ‘Waiting’, to a rich treble of the solo on the title track. One of the many intriguing aspects of this set is the way in which his guitar sounds like two completely different players. Over this, Egli’s saxophone weaves a delicate web across the pieces that he composed for the group.
In the liner notes, Egli says that this was a group that had rehearsed the day prior to recordings and then, on the day on the recording session, first saw the charts for the collection of pieces here. I guess that Egli had some idea in his mind before the recording began, and that this idea was sketched on his compositional charts, but that the interplay of musicians here and the grooves that they found would have lifted these beyond his imaginings. This is partly down to the richness of the conversation that the band strikes up in their playing, and partly due to the way in which the pieces are recorded. Special mention must be given to sound engineer David Odlum creates the effects in the studio ‘live’, as the band play, making it sound as if there are over-dubs, echoes and effects across all the instruments. In some places, these effects come from the musicians themselves, and I imagine the bass, guitar and sax surrounded by a plethora of effects pedals to distort and extend their sounds.
Each piece begins with a composition by Egli and he brings to these pieces echoes of the jazz canon that form the basis for simple, repeated themes. For example, I definitely heard the falling phrase from main theme of Mingus’ ‘Goodbye Pork Pie Hat’ on the title track here, played with a languid grace that pulls the track into a slow two-step. In other places, the themes have ghostly, half-familiar echoes of the jazz tradition pushed through a kaleidoscopic lens, so that you aren’t really sure what style of music you are listening to, but convinced that this is music worth listening to.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
