Jazz at Green Room: Michaël Attias Quartett

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.”

The Michaël Attias European Quartet is based in Berlin and features three other international musicians - guitarist Simon Jermyn and bassist Miles Perkin, who hail from Ireland and Canada, respectively - and drummer Samuel Ber from Belgium.