"Don't change your hair for me not, if you care for me" is a lyric from one of the most famous and most played jazz ballads: "My funny Valentine", from the workshop of the songwriter Richard Rodgers - Lorenz Hart, who wrote the song in 1937 concocted the musical “Babes in Arms.” With their interpretations, jazz greats such as Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis and Chet Baker impressed the text and melody deeply into the collective subconscious of generations of jazz listeners. Anyone who wants to build on this must have a very clear idea of how he or she wants to deal with the moods that the song evokes.

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The trumpet and flugelhorn player Peter Schärli has no problems with this: he knows the song as well as his famous interpreters, and last but not least, he also knows his own strengths.

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With his sophisticated sound culture, Schärli is a real specialist for emotional ballads à la “My funny Valentine”, whose lyrics inspired his band its unusual name.

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Schärli has found a like-minded partner in his long-time bandmate Thomas Dürst, who not only knows how to swing like hell with his double bass, but can also support lyrical moods with taste and feeling. The expression of guitarist and singer Antonia Giordano also fits perfectly between Schärli's melancholic lines and Dürst's solid foundation. American vocalist Sandy Patton toured in the 1970s with jazz greats such as Dizzie Gillespie, Buddy Tate, Jaco Pastorius and Earl “Fatha” Hines, to name just a few. She has her roots where the other band members' preferences lie: in the classic jazz singer tradition, as founded by Ella Fitzgerald.

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Peter Bürli about Peter Schärli: “Don’t Change Your Hair For Me”