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Michaël Attias
Michaël Attias has earned a reputation as one of the most questing and keenly collaborative figures
on the 21st-century New York jazz scene, with a background and outlook that makes “him an
emphatically cosmopolitan saxophonist and composer,” according to The New York Times.
Migrations spanning North Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and the American Midwest
ultimately brought Attias to New York City in 1994, where he continues to pursue his muse as
improviser, composer and leader of multiple bands. On the alto saxophone, Attias offers a tone of
piquant lyricism, while his sound on the baritone horn blends fluency with grit. His compositions
are serpentine and darkly alluring, with melodies fit to charm snakes; the rhythms offer surprise at
every turn, the textures as sensual as night. The Village Voice has described Attias’ music-making
this way: “perpetually shifting tunes, richness of timbre and a singular personality – you can almost
see his music expanding and contracting.”
Attias is readying a third album – the beautifully combustible Live in Greenwich Village – for release
by Renku, the saxophonist’s telepathic cooperative with two longstanding kindred spirits: bassist
John Hébert and drummer Satoshi Takeishi. Attias also leads the potent quintet Spun Tree
(featuring trumpeter Ralph Alessi, pianist Matt Mitchell, bassist Sean Conly and drummer Tom
Rainey), which released its first, eponymous album via Clean Feed in 2012. Attias has already
written a new book of music for Spun Tree. In addition, the saxophonist leads the Michaël Attias
Quartet (with Hébert, pianist Aruan Ortiz and drummer Nasheet Waits). Another of Attias’ pursuits
is a solo saxophone project – I’s – that sees him weave the keens and whispers of his alto through
the resonance of well-placed piano chords, making music as a subtly intense one-man band. That’s
not to mention his experience as a sideman for artists from Anthony Braxton and Paul Motian to
Anthony Coleman and Tony Malaby, as well as his extensive work as a composer for the theater. No
matter the setting, All About Jazz was right when it said, “Attias plays with authority and passion.”
www.michaelattias.com