Home » Jazz Musicians » Matthieu Marthouret

Matthieu Marthouret

This musician, passionate about art in all its guises, an inspired and generous composer, dedicates much of his time to studying the language and the history of music in general, from classical to rock, to folk and more... These musical styles have always been part of his life and he considers them closely tied to each other. Along with his role as lead musician, he regularly plays with many different musicians, accompanying them at the organ or piano, for both regular and one-off sessions. Together, they play both original repertoires and cover versions, the keywords being "exchange" and "openness". He is without a shadow of a doubt one of the instrumentalists, composers and leader to keep an eye on in the future...

Matthieu, a pianist, organ player and composer, was born in Grenoble in the French Alps, in the same year as the release of The Wall and Off the Wall, two albums that have left their mark on the history of music. His musical journey started in the Rhone-Alpes region at the beginning of the 21st century, later taking him to Lyon, New York and finally Paris, where he currently resides.

He set up his first quartet with his older brother Guillaume, saxophonist, inspired by hard-bop and the Blue Note Records of the 60s, and quickly started playing with some of the best musicians of the region. At the same time, he studied for three years at the Chambéry conservatory, and graduated from there in 2001.

He moved to Lyon in 2000 and created the group Talkin'About recording two albums with them: Reg (2001) and Connections (2005). To compensate for the frequent absence of bass players during rehearsals, it was also during this period that he started playing an instrument that he has carried on playing ever since: the Hammond organ.

Winner of the Lavoisier scholarship in 2002, he went to New York to study for a year at the prestigious New School University. The year spent in total immersion in the cradle of jazz was an important step in his musical education, and gave him the chance to work with a large number of renowned musicians and teachers. It most importantly gave him the opportunity to spend many a night discovering the incredible, bubbling music scene, attending concerts and participating in numerous jam sessions.

Since 2006, while dedicating more and more of his time to composing, he launched two new projects with himself as the lead musician, one at the piano and the other at the organ, surrounding himself with inspiring musicians: Piano trio (compositions and new takes on classic standards) and Organ Quartet (original compositions).

Read more

Tags

32
Album Review

Springbok: Involutions

Read "Involutions" reviewed by Jack Bowers


Involutions is the fifth recording by Springbok, a quartet based in France and led by organist Matthieu Marthouret. Its other members are trumpeter Julien Alour, saxophonist Robby Marshall and drummer Thomas Delor. According to Marthouret, the reunion embodies and amplifies elements of its previous albums: the fun of playing, optimism, a sense of collectivism, the notion of contrast. Each of those components is certainly here, nestled among the album's eleven (twelve?) tracks, all of which are original ...

17
Album Review

Matthieu Marthouret Bounce Trio: Small Streams...Big Rivers

Read "Small Streams...Big Rivers" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Grenoble-born keyboardist Matthieu Marthouret started playing the Hammond organ as a way of covering for bass players' absence from rehearsals. It became one of his favorite instruments, leading to the formation of the Matthieu Marthouret Organ Quartet in 2007 and then to the establishment of the Bounce Trio. Small Streams...Big Rivers is the first album from that outfit, an organ/tenor/drums triumvirate. On Small Streams...Big Rivers the Bounce Trio performs original tunes by Marthouret and saxophonist Toine Thys alongside ...

37
Album Review

Matthieu Marthouret Organ Quartet: Upbeats

Read "Upbeats" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Necessity is not only the mother of invention, but also of direction. French pianist Matthieu Marthouret initially took on the task of mastering the organ because of problems finding bass players for rehearsals, but he found his own voice on the instrument and discovered a world of possibilities in the process. The debut album from his organ quartet--Playground (MuSt, 2009)--served as a launching pad for his explorations in this arena, but the group is in full flight throughout Upbeats.

Read more articles

ABOUT THE ALBUM Smalls Streams...Big Rivers (Double Moon Records, 2012)
"Very cool session from the Bounce Trio (...) Their 2014 self-titled release Bounce Trio has got plenty of the classic warmth & groove of late-sixties organ-led hard bop and soul jazz recordings (...) Remarkably, though, despite the swings back and forth between an old-school and new- school sound, the album keeps a strong sense of cohesion. (...) that this is fun music that’s very easy to dive into. " BIRD IS THE WORM

« The pairing of tenor sax and keyboards gives the music a warmth: Marthouret favors a rich, rounded, tone and Thys' tenor sound has just enough of an edge to ensure that the pair complement each other. Gautier Garrigue's drumming is consistently excellent. His playing is full of energy and imagination. » ALL ABOUT JAZZ

« A classic organ trio capable of laying down a groove without being stuck in a rut. (...). It's funky, it's danceable and it's very listenable. » BE BOP SPOKEN HERE

Read more

Primary Instrument

Organ, Hammond B3

Location

Paris

Willing to teach

Advanced only

Wayne Shorter
saxophone
Dr. Lonnie Smith
organ, Hammond B3
Miles Davis
trumpet
Larry Young
organ, Hammond B3
Sam Yahel
organ, Hammond B3

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Involutions

We See Music Records
2022

buy

Contrasts

We See Music Records
2016

buy

Small Streams...Big...

Self Produced
2014

buy

Upbeats

Double Moon Records
2012

buy

Playground

Must Records
2009

buy

Bounce Trio

Self Produced
0

buy

Tom Thumb

From: Contrasts
By Matthieu Marthouret

Joe

From: Bounce Trio
By Matthieu Marthouret

Videos

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.