Né en 1979, année de sortie du mythique concept album "The Wall » de Pink Floyd, Mattieu Marthouret ne cesse de souligner que sa musique ne se crée pas dans le vide. Se nourrissant d’influences passées comme plus actuelles, les références au groupe britannique sont évidentes. Le «jazz contemporain moderne» de ses compositions combine parfaitement les éléments rythmiques du rock et de la pop, le caractère mélodique clair du folk, mais aussi la nature subtile des œuvres classique. Marthouret a toujours eu une profonde affection pour les albums légendaires des années 50 et 60 – plus particulièrement ceux incorporant l'orgue Hammond – et le catalogue «Blue Note» est l’une de ses référence majeure. Fraîches et intemporelles, les neuf compositions originales d’ « Upbeats » réunissent le même casting quatre étoiles que «Playground », son très remarqué premier album sorti en 2009. Plus dépouillé, gagnant en densité, cet enregistrement groovy et plein de swing en est le digne successeur.

The legendary concept album "The Wall" by the British band Pink Floyd was released in 1979 – and Matthieu Marthouret was born in the same year. The cross reference makes sense, because the Frenchman repeatedly emphasizes the fact that his music is not created in a void, but instead consistently takes current influences into consideration. Even if you want to assign the label of "modern contemporary jazz" to him in the most far-ranging sense of the word, the compositions always let the grooving, rhythmic elements of rock and pop, the clear melodic character of folk, but also the subtle nature of classical works shine through. Even though Marthouret has always had a deep affection for the legendary albums of the 50s and 60s – above all, on the Hammond organ – and likes to refer to the "Blue Note" albums, his nine original compositions on "Upbeats" sound timeless and fresh. The quartet with top-rate members already released its first album in 2009 ("Playground") at the French label Must Records and immediately reaped a lot of praise in the press. The successor with the same band members has become more straightforward and substantial; the long years of playing together has resulted in an effortless, completely unpretentious, easy-going and grooving recording with a masterful, homogeneous band. Matthieu Marthouret comes from Grenoble and received a college degree in Chambéry in 2001. Then he lived in Lyon for a while and recorded his first CDs followed by an intensive time in New York (at New School University). Marthouret has lived in Paris for a few years and put together a band composed of top-rate members. The drummer Manuel Franchi is always a part of it. He comes from the Provence and played the piano as a child before he switched to drums. That is perhaps the reason for his extremely sensitive and communicative accompaniment, which has made him an outstanding drummer very much in demand in France and the reason why he has been awarded so many prizes. Sandro Zerafa and Maxime Fougères alternate on the guitar in concerts and recordings. The former is not only the music director at the jazz festival in Malta, his place of birth, but has also earned numerous awards and played alongside of Manu Katché and Youn Sun Nah, among others. Fougères also has solid roots in the French scene, has played in the Timothy Hayward Quartet, among others, and toured through all of Europe. David Prez is considered the most outstanding saxophone player in France of the last decade. He has toured internationally and played with numerous musicians from Jerry Bergonzi to Bill Stewart. Nicolas Kummert is responsible for the wind section of the quartet, too – he and David Prez are both regular members of the Quartet. The Belgian contributes his intensive, sometimes also rough-edged tenor sound and proves that he can demonstrate just as excellent skills as a singer. An interesting guest is invited time and again to the live performances of the quartet and has also left his traces on the CD: David Fettman on alto sax. He is known to European audiences in the meantime, including thanks to his debut at Double Moon Records ("Prelude", DMCHR 71091, 2011).