Republic of Jazz: Maciej Obara Quartet

Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Maciej Obara Quartet – Unloved (ECM 2017)

The Maciej Obara Quartet was established in 2012 by Polish saxophone player Maciej Obara, with Dominik Wania (piano), Ole Morten Vaagan (double bass) and Gard Nilssen (drums).

The quartet embodies the very best of today's leading European jazz scene and each member posesses an individual sound emerging from differing musical experiences. Obara has invited powerful and mature artists who create complete, mindful and, above all, beautiful music together.

The band has performed in prestigious venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center (NY), Jazz Standard (NY), Porgy & Bess (Vienna), Cotton Club (Tokyo) as well as at festivals like London Jazz Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival, Jarasum Intl Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Molde Jazz Festival, Festiwal Jazztopad, Akbank, Izmir Jazz Festival, or New Haven Jazz Festival.

After 5 years of intensive touring, the Maciej Obara Quartet received an invitation from Manfred Eicher to record an album for one of the world's most prestigious record labels – ECM. As a result, the new album “Unloved” will be released in September 2017. The album contains original compositions by Obara, as well as one track by the legendary Polish composer Krzysztof Komeda.

“Unloved” is the first studio recording of the quartet, vividly presenting the leader’s lyrical inspirations from the Polish jazz masters and Romantic-era composers alike. The whole is completed by the remarkable harmonic sensibility of Dominik Wania, the folk sound of Ole Morten Vaagan and the rock feeling of Gard Nilssen.

Freedom, intuition and great communication characterize the Maciej Obara Quartet and enable the members to follow risky musical paths, emphasising the dynamism and unpredictability of each concert.

The diversity of the band is reflected by vigorous intensity - contrastingly overcome by lyricism and completed by the leader’s compositions.

The Maciej Obara Quartet presents young and active musicians of the European jazz scene, jazz being one of the many vectors of the band. If musical genres are languages, we can easily say that Maciej Obara Quartet has mastered many of them, mainly deriving from classical and improvised music.