michaël attias

...luxury of sonority and beauty of pattern that comes from compositions where mastery of craft collide with widely informed inspiration.
So when is Attias getting his MacArthur?
Stanley Zappa

... Attias enjoys rare accord with trumpeter Ralph Alessi, whose aesthetic temperament and dynamic range matches the leader’s at every turn. Whether soloing in tandem or executing contrapuntal motifs, Attias and Alessi make a consummate pair... The quintet invests each cut with a subtle, haunting ambience, providing the session with a cohesive emotional center...A compelling release from an artist whose selective output rarely accentuates his compositional abilities, Spun Tree is an exceptional album, revealing additional layers with each spin.
Troy Collins

Very often the term “composer” is amended to a musician’s name, meaning simply they write their own material. But in some cases, it is a defining classification. So it is with saxophonist Michaël Attias, who always maintains his aesthetic construction – often appealingly impenetrable – no matter the group...
Andrey Henkin

Saxophonist Michael Attias seldom rests on his laurels. Always aligning with a superlative support structure, each of his solo outings offer a fluctuating refresher course on routes previously navigated. With nouveau ideologies in place, Attias' expansive cache of weaponry once again comes to the forefront. The band skirts between introspection, aggression, and fiercely driven free bop atop the ever-present avant-garde contingent. No particular slant or proposition dominates on Spun Tree, and the musicians' intrinsic synergy cannot be understated...
Glenn Astarita

The results are near monumental. Huzzah to this one!
Gapplegate Music Review

Michaël Attias, the composer and sound designer, engineers the aural landscape, a textured pastiche (think Nietzschean hip-hop) that’s rendered with a DJ’s discreet brashness. Charles McNulty

They're not twines, exactly, but long, thick ropes that bind the bandleader's sax with that of Tony Malaby. The pair circle and swoop through each other, knotting things when things need knotting, and loosening things when the binds get too tight. Their new Clean Feed disc is series of tension and release strategies, and their piano-bass-drums squad assures that those knots are anything but the square kind.
Jim Macnie

Named after a novel written—and subsequently destroyed—by saxist-bandleader Michaël Attias, his new Clean Feed release, Twines of Colesion, is one of the year's standout jazz albums, an alternately gritty and romantic set, perched on the border between postbop and the avant-garde.

The breadth of their musical vision is inspiring, as they work to widen and expand the nature of the music.
Tim Niland: Music and More

This is modern jazz at its best.
Stef Gissels: Free Jazz

While Attias is clearly an inspired improviser, Twines of Colesion also emphasizes his significant talents as a bandleader and composer.
Stuart Broomer

The set’s most dramatic extended solo, however, came from altoist Michaël Attias, who brought the noisy room to a hush.
David Adler: NY at Night in All About Jazz-NY

by Derek: Master of a Small House

by Vincenzo Roggero: All About Jazz Italy

A renku is a form of Japanese poetry that originated over one thousand years ago. Here, superfine and somewhat under-recognized saxophonist Michael Attias uses the renku as an interactive jazz frontier with his crack rhythm section. The musicians have performed on and off since 2003. Unsurprisingly, their intuition and synergy looms rather prolifically throughout. Thus, Attias is one of the best in the biz, and this 2009 endeavor reemphasizes that notion in glimmering fashion.

The trio attains a translucent balance, where sheer-might, eloquence and capacious movements ride atop buoyant, asymmetrical pulses. Attias is a fluent technician who injects variable amounts of gusto, soul and warmth into the grand scheme, while possessing a fluent attack. On sax great Lee Konitz’ “Thingin,” the musicians gel to a carefree setting, sparked by Satoshi Takeishi’s dance-like brush patterns across the snare drum. Moreover, Attias’ conjures up a wistful mindset as the band gradually instills tension, which is an element that carries forth on the following and somewhat scrappy free-form piece, “Do & the Birds.”

It’s no secret that Takeishi is a multitasking performer. With this outing, he integrates small percussion implements and tiny cymbal hits to add texture and rhythmic color. And Attias is a master at understating a primary melody line, akin to the intent of an author unfolding a plot. The trio effectively mixes it up during late saxophonist Jimmy Lyons’ composition “Sorry,” as they render a scorching bump and grind motif, spotted with variable flows and the leader’s sizzling flurries. They close out the program with a reprise of the first piece “Creep,” via extended unison notes and Attias’ harmonious alignment with bassist John Hebert. Sure enough, Attias and his associates are at the very top of their game throughout this irrefutably compelling musical statement.
Glenn Astarita: Jazzreview.com

Chicago Reader plug for Renku in Coimbra, by Peter Margasak

By Grego Edwards in Gapplegate Music Review

Review by Stef in Free Jazz

by Martin Longley in All About Jazz-NY

Of course these tunes took on the spiky, free-flowing coloration that Attias and his partners have developed so beautifully, a language of sparsely orchestrated yet precise themes, open harmony and intuitive transitions. David Adler

Michaël Attias est encore peu connu du grand public français et on ne peut que le regretter…
Cet altiste passionnant (il joue aussi du soprano et du baryton), présent depuis une dizaine d’années sur la scène du jazz new-yorkais, aime à clouer le bec aux habitudes.
Proche parent de souffle de Thomas Chapin, il nous embarque dans des phrasés, qui toujours refusent les gammes et les effets mille fois rabâchés par ses petits camarades. Déraillements et écarts spontanés, rien n’est linéaire chez lui, tout se joue dans des vrilles redoutables, articulées mystérieusement, virevoltantes et vrillées à même le souffle. Michaël Attias recherche la liberté et cela se sent ! par Luc Bouquet