Gaume Jazz Festival : Mohs.

A clever blend of contemporary jazz, electronics, and improvised music with influences tinged with folk and repetitive minimalism

Gaspard Colin, electric bass / Erwan Valazza, guitar / Zacharie Ksyk, trumpet / Nathan Vandenbulcke, drums

The music of mohs. is a call to contemplate the forces that surround us, with captivating and dreamlike textures, organic melodies, and a soaring sound conducive to reverie and escape.

The Project

The group m o h s. was founded by trumpeter Zacharie Ksyk and guitarist Erwan Valazza's desire to create their own musical universe. To achieve this, they joined forces with the talented Gaspard Colin on bass and Nathan Vandenbulcke on drums. The quartet offers a clever blend of contemporary jazz, electronics, and improvised music with influences tinged with folk and repetitive minimalism.

Drawing inspiration from the living world—the group's name comes from the Mohs scale, which classifies minerals—the quartet's music is a call to contemplate the forces that surround us. With captivating, dreamlike textures and organic melodies, their soaring sound invites reverie and escape.

A favorite of the 2019 Jazz Contreband springboard, m o h s. released their first album in November 2019. The young quartet has performed on prestigious stages, such as the Cully Jazz Festival, the AMR (Geneva), and the Brise Glace (Annecy), opening for Portico 4tet. The group also had the opportunity to open for Kenny Garrett at the 2021 Jazz Contreband festival at Chateau Rouge (Annemasse). In 2022, the quartet was selected by the Swiss Diagonales Jazz festival. In this context, the group tours throughout the various Swiss language regions and has performed at Moods (Zurich), BeJazz (Bern), and Jazz in Bess (Lugano), to name a few.

In 2023, m o h s . is releasing a new project. Entitled Mirage, this new album is the result of a collective composition and arrangement effort. Continuing its dreamlike and mineral exploration, the sound develops, refines, and polishes. The album opens with the title track "New Places," which heralds the exploration of new elements.

Mirage is atmosphere, haziness, dusk mingling with dawn. We let ourselves float with the currents, and the music flows in a continuous cycle and then begins again... like a repetitive echo that remains buried within each of us like a primal essence.

Mirage was released on March 31, 2023. A preview tour will take the group to Paris (Duc des Lombards and La Petite Halle), Lausanne (Chorus), Lugano (FOCE), Cully (Cully Jazz Festival, opening for Avishai Cohen Trio), Geneva (official opening in April at La Gravière), and Jouy (La Grange des Blins).

This concert is offered as part of an AJC – Pro Helvetia partnership, to promote the promotion of Swiss artists in France, and more specifically on the AJC network.