On the second day of the festival, we invite you to the powerful European sound of Maciej Obara’s Polish/Norwegian quartet.
Maciej Obara – alto saxophone
Dominik Wania – piano
Mats Eilertsen – double bass
Gard Nilssen – drums.
The Maciej Obara Quartet is a story of long-standing friendship, perseverance, and hard work. It’s also the story of the meeting of four extraordinary artists, who were immediately united by a shared vision and musical sensitivity. And this unique musical friendship has endured, both through the difficult beginnings of his international career, when Obara’s name first began appearing on international festival bills, the challenging preparations for recording sessions with one of the world’s most demanding producers, Manfred Eicher, and also the pandemic period, with its travel bans and the resulting inability to perform together. This final, most difficult period in the band’s history, however, demonstrated the quartet’s very strong bonds, which only strengthened during the separation. The musicians returned to international stages with redoubled motivation and energy with a new album for ECM, “Frozen Silence.”
Without a doubt, the Obara Quartet is an exceptional band, creating multi-layered music. It’s an alliance of highly individual personalities, instrumentalists who are dedicated to group collaboration while simultaneously finding space for their own expression. The intense sound of Obara’s alto saxophone, oscillating between lyricism and explosiveness, is perfectly balanced by Dominik Wania, a pianist with excellent technique and classical training. Obara and Wania are “improvisers with cosmic energy,” as John Fordham of The Guardian described them. After graduating with distinction from the Academy of Music in Kraków, Wania found his path in jazz music. From the first meeting of the young artists in Tomasz Stańko’s band, it was clear that the impulsive and outgoing saxophonist and the introverted and analytical pianist would share a deep musical understanding. Two years ago, Wania joined the elite group of artists recording for ECM, and his first solo album (“Lonely Shadows”) in that catalog is also the first solo album by a Polish musician released by the Munich-based label.
Przetłumacz
