Weird Beard

Although rooted in the jazz tradition, Weird Beard have an untypical make-up: a bassist dedicated to experiment and punk rock, a drummer at home in future pop, a maverick guitarist from an undogmatic force-field of contemporary jazz, and a melomaniac saxophonist, the band leader, with a dream above and beyond clear musical visions and goals: the welfare and blossoming of each individual musician.  

The music of Weird Beard exudes the breadth and laconic calm of a north-European landscape with a nimbus of melancholy floating above it, where we are lulled blissfully by warm melodies and sensuous phrases. By turns elegiac, then upbeat again, sometimes so soft it becomes fragile, then explosively loud, Weird Beard’s musical cosmos encompasses every possible shade. 

Line-up

Florian Egli Saxophone Dave Gisler Guitar Martina Berther Electric bass Rico Baumann Drums

In the picture, from left to right: Martina Berther, Florian Egli, Dave Gisler, Rico Baumann

Contact detailsFlorian Egli Riedlistrasse 76 florian.egli@gmx.ch 8006 Zurich +41 79 444 27 88

Press voices

"Weird Beard is floating through very gentle melodic passages, passing into more harsh mountain streams, always opening up wide horizons by its endearing compositions with a Motianian touch.“ All about Jazz (Henning Bolte)

“Grossartig! Ein fantastischer Bandsound, die beste Performance und ein stupendes Handwerk! Die einfachen Motive und Fragmente und deren Entwicklung sind gut mitzuerleben, ein Spiel mit der eigenen Hörerfahrung beginnt." Jurybericht ZKB Jazzpreis 2014 (Reto Suhner, Bugge Wesseltoft, Hanspeter Kuenzler)

"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 progrocklike guitar ideas, “closetoprogrammed” and sequenced inspired drums mixed with eclectic “mountainechoed” saxophone and some real deep freeinspired bassplaying. Having been a fan of the vibrant Swiss jazz scene for years, seeing the growth from closetosecret to todays worldwide recognition with artists like Irene Schweizer, Nik Bärtsch, Elina Duni, Weird Beard just fits totally into this picture.“ (Bugge Wesseltoft, liner notes Everything Moves)

"Jazz on the pulse!" (Concerto, Nov. 2012)

"Deeply designed soundscapes, compelling melodies: Florian Egli and Weird Beard exert a hypnotic effect." (Schaffhauser Nachrichten, 5.5.2012)

„Away has become an astonishingly mature work between jazz, rock and noise. Egli knows exactly what he wants with his saxophone..." (Tages Anzeiger, 12.9.2012)

Musician biographies

Florian Egli, was born in Trasadingen (Schaffhausen) in 1982 and grew up there in a musical family. In a very young age, he starts to learn Piano and Recorder. At the age of eleven, he startet playing Saxophon. As a teenager, he collected some experience on stage and in the studio with the Band Moondogs. He studied at the Zurich University of the Arts under the tutelage of Christoph Grab and Reto Suhner. During his studies he was awarded a bursary from the Friedl Wald Foundation and was involved in many concerts with his own projects, The Murder of Amus Ames and Weird Beard. The Murder Of Amus Ames' debut album entitled Murderish Good Music was released in September  2010. Weird Beard played a serious of concerts as part of the illustrious Suisse Diagonales Jazz Festival in 2011. He has been a member of the Lucerne Jazz Orchestra since 2007. Florian’s instrumental skills brings him many Jobs in the world of Jazz Orchestras. He often plays with the Swiss Jazz Orchestra or the Zürich Jazz Orchestra. As Florian Egli loves to play Jazz Standards, he is often seen in the internationally acclaimed Wednesday Jam organised by the JazzBaragge association, of which he is also a board member.

Dave Gisler, born in 1983, was educated privately by his parents and started taking classical guitar lessons from his father at the age of eight. At 23, he completed his studies at the Jazz department of the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, where he was taught by musicians including Kurt Rosenwinkel and Christy Doran. Alongside his own band Dave Gisler’s Shizzle, he plays with Sonar Ensemble, Mat Down, Asmin, Mumur, Yvonne Meier’s Scores, Jäger-Gisler-Jäger and the Lucerne Jazz Orchestra. He has worked with producers Al Mack and Keyon Harrold in New York. In 2009 he played with Yvonne Meier’s Scores at the legendary Visions Festival in Manhattan, and won a bursary from the Heinrich Danioth Foundation for a four-month stay in New York.

Martina Berther, born in 1984, grew up ich Chur. She studied at the Jazz department of the Lucerne University. Martina has a big interest in playing free, noisy or avant-garde kind of music. Still ,she has lot’s of experience in playing in Hip Hop, Punk and Indie Pop Bands. Due to her big variety of styles and her unique and warm sound, she has been playing on many different stages in many countries already. Bands: URSINA, Weird Beard, Me Valentin & You, Aul.

Rico Baumann, born in Bern in 1983, grew up in a musical family and was exposed to a variety of musical styles from an early age. He was soon playing with his father Simon LaBey on his projects, which were a mixture of gypsy jazz, pop and chanson. He later attended drumming lessons with Balts Nill and Gilbert Paeffgen, and learned percussion from Martin Hägler. From 2003  to 2007 he studied at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern, taking lessons from Billy Brooks, Jan Fabricky and Fabian Kuratli. In 2006 Rico Baumann received a bursary from the Friedl Wald Foundaiton. He has taught at the Bern Conservatoire since autumn 2007. His musical activities could scarcely be more varied. Alongside his own bass and drums duo Next Generation Orchestra, he also plays in a variety of small and large ensembles including Die Pilze, Swiss Jazz Orchestra, Trio Total, Elina Duni and the Golden Boys, Simon Heggendorn Quartet, Hydrian Gathering, and Kreislers musikalisch-poetischer Klub. Rico Baumann is also involved in composition, production and design.