Mask features Jeff Gauthier on electric violin, Nels Cline on guitars, David Witham on piano, Joel Hamilton on bass and Alex Cline on drums. This is Gauthier's third CD as a leader and first for Cryptogramophone. Mask features works by Gauthier, Nels Cline, Alex Cline, former Goatette member Eric von Essen, and harmolodic legend Ornette Coleman. This is Gauthier's strongest and most original statement to date, and heralds his arrival as yet another important jazz violinist with a French name.
"The best word for this recording is impeccable. The ensemble playing is lock tight, the soloists are eloquent; the seven pieces (five of them composed by group members) are literate and stimulating. The music seems to reveal new twists and turns, nuances, and depths of expression long after familiarity would normally have set in and begun to blur the edges. Even the CD cover art, a series of full color photographs of tribal masks, is gorgeous. Leader Gauthier is an elegant violinist, with a light, lyrical touch. Not to be missed." - Bill Tilland, BBCi