Ethics is an international folk-jazz ensemble founded in Paris in 2010 by Algerian bassist/composer/arranger Michel Benita. Its membership includes Matthieu Michel on flügelhorn, guitarist Eivind Aarset, Mieko Miyazaki on koto, and drummer Philippe Garcia.

Benita formed the group as an experimental gamble, to see if he could successfully bring the koto into a traditional jazz setting. Having seen Miyazaki on-stage, he was impressed by her presence and balanced approach to Eastern and Western music. Benita, an oft-recorded musician, had collaborated and played with a vast number of diverse talents on previous recordings. He was a member of trumpeter Erik Truffaz's band in the early 2000s, and enlisted oud master Dhafer Youssef to play on his own 2006 effort, Drastic.

Ethics made its self-titled debut recording for Zig Zag Territoires in 2010. Benita's relationship to ECM was established when he played with saxophonist Andy Sheppard and drummer Sebastian Rochford on Trio Libero in 2012. The bassist was also a member of Sheppard's recording quartet for 2015's Surrounded by the Sea. That year, Ethics signed to ECM and entered an Oslo studio with Manfred Eicher as producer. They emerged with River Silver, issued by the label in the winter of 2016. ~ Thom Jurek, Rovi