Monoliths and Screens for Quartet is the third album of the modern jazz trio of young French, Zürich-based pianist-composer Matthieu Mazué, featuring Swiss double bass player Xaver Rüegg and drummer Michael Cina, now augmented with American sax player Michaël Attias. Attias first joined MazuéTrio in 2022, and the quartet performed at the Jazzdor festival in Strasbourg and in Berlin.

Mazué describes this album as «a winding path where unleashed melodies intertwine with serene soundscapes». His music was inspired by cinematic images, especially related to Stanley Kubrick’s cinematography. The eight pieces use the concept of an imaginary monolith, and sound as if they were stemmed from a massive rock formation, sculpted by Mazué‘s introspective, melodic ideas, and spontaneous gestures of the quartet’s musicians, and further polished by thoughtful, collective, and individual improvisations. The pieces that are titled as screen(s) evoke and reflect – literally – the objects that surround us in our daily lives.

The atmosphere of Monoliths and Screens for Quartet is mostly spacious and contemplative, and offers a subtle balance between the rich, modern jazz legacy and contemporary, often abstract, experimental music, with great freedom to the four musicians. The addition of Attias adds depth and urgency to the trio’s sonic palette, and his commanding alto sax voice often spirals the quartet dynamics into complex, post-bop territories. Monoliths and Screens for Quartet imagines the quartet – and us, the listeners – as watching a movie in which we all stage ourselves. It asks us to open our ears and immerse ourselves in the thought-provoking musical images and structures, and observe how our very own human conditions are reflected by this fine quartet.

Eyal Hareuveni

Matthieu Mazué (piano), Michaël Attias (alto saxophone), Xaver Rüegg (double bass), Michael Cina (drums)