Maciej Obara Quartet

Occur:

Maciej Obara – alto saxophone
Dominik Wania – piano
Ole Morten Vågan – double bass
Gard Nilssen – drums

Maciej Obara, an outstanding alto saxophonist, composer, leader, one of the leading Polish musicians of modern jazz and improvised music, a searching artist, uncompromising, with a distinct style and recognizable sound. He graduated from the Jazz Institute of the Academy of Music in Katowice. In 2007 he won the Grand Prix of the Bielska Zadymka Jazzowa competition (album Message from Ohayo, 2007). He was quickly noticed by Tomasz Stańko, who invited him to join the New Balladyna Quartet and Special Project. He also played with musicians of the New York School of Improvistational Music – Ralph Alessi, Mark Helias, Nasheet Waits (Maciej Obara Special Quartet – Four, 2010). In 2012 he founded the group Obara International, which included pianist Dominik Wania and musicians from Norway – Ole Morten Vågan and Gard Nilssen (Komeda, 2013; Manggha, 2013; Live in Mińsk Mazowiecki). In 2017, the band recorded Unloved, their first album for the ECM label, followed two years later by another, Three Crowns. Maciej Obara Quartet performed m.in. He has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York’s Jazz Standard, Porgy & Bess in Vienna, Cotton Club Tokyo and at the London Jazz Festival, Tokyo Jazz Festival, Jarasum Int’l Jazz Festival, Vancouver Jazz, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Warsaw Summer Jazz Days, Molde Jazz Festival.

Frozen Silence will be released soon, the third album recorded for ECM by Maciej Obara’s band; Currently, the material from the album is presented as part of concerts preceding its premiere.

Dominik Wania, currently the highest ranked jazz pianist in Poland, leader, soloist, member of several formations, valued session musician. A graduate of classical piano at the Academy of Music in Krakow; He also studied jazz with Danilo Perez and Jerry Bergonzi at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He is a lecturer at the Jazz Faculties of the Academies of Music in Krakow and Katowice. He collaborated with Tomasz Stańko, Janusz Muniak, Zbigniew Namysłowski, Piotr Wojtasik, Marcus Miller, Lee Konitz, Dave Liebman, Gary Thomas. In 2013 he recorded the album Ravel with a jazz version of the piano cycle Miroirs by the French master. Dominik Wania is the first Polish artist to record a solo album for ECM (Lonely Shadows, 2019). His music is a synthesis of the latest trends in jazz, free improvisation and classical music of the twentieth century.

Ole Morten Vågan, Norwegian jazz double bassist, composer, leader, graduate of the Jazz Department of the Trondheim Conservatory. Founder and leader of the band Motif, with whom he recorded several original albums. He has performed and recorded with Tore Johansen, pianist Maria Kannegaard’s Trio and the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Lecturer at the Department of Jazz and Improvised Music of the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo.

Gard Nilssen, versatile Norwegian drummer, performing jazz and improvised music, leader, session musician. He graduated from the Trondheim Conservatory. He gives concerts and records solo, collaborates with the leading Norwegian jazz and groups: Cortex and Starlite Motel, Bushman’s Revenge, Zanussi Five, Trondheim Jazz Orchestra. Leader of Puma and Unity Trio.