The raw sound of classical jazz trio with European character.
1. Cool Madness
2. Hidden
3. Tale
4. Domino
5. Cheshire Cat
6. Lady With A Weasel
7. Transcendental
Maciej Obara - saxophone
Dominik Wania - piano
Maciej Garbowski - bass
Krzysztof Gradziuk - drums
About:
Maciej Obara is a young Polish composer and alto saxophonist. His career started after recording "Message from Ohayo" in 2006, with which he won the Bielska Zadymka Jazz Contest for young jazz bands.
In the year 2008 Obara organized a tour in Poland with Antoine Roney, the prominent jazz saxophone player from USA.
In 2008 he was also recommended by Manfred Eicher(ECM) to Tomasz Stanko, which resulted in their frutful cooperation. During this period Maciej Obara recorded and performed music for the Tomas Stanko "Terminal 7" show in National Theatre, he participated in the international project called "Tomasz Stanko Special Project" during the Autumn Jazz Festival 2007 and cooperated with Stanko in his project "New Balladyna Quartet".
In January 2008 Maciej Obara Trio released a new recording "I can do it", which received th enthusiastic reviews in press.
In November 2009 the leader of the band presented his new project – "Obara Special Quartet", into which he invited musicians from NY School of
Improvisational Music: Ralph Alessi – trumpet, Mark Helias – bass, Nasheet Waits – drums.
The 2009 autumn tour with Alessi, Helias and Waits lead to the recording in NY studio Systemstwo.
In January 2010 Maciej Obara released the album and named it "Four".
Album is available now.
During the winter workshop in Brooklyn Academy of Music Obara recorded also the second album titled "Three" with Harvey Sorgen and John Lindberg.
The project was named MaMuGe 3.
In 2011 Obara has began a new project with a great polish piano jazz player Dominik Wania. Both musicians have met in a band of Tomasz Stanko for the first time and this cooperation has triggered a great musical friendship between these two talented polish artists. Their work resulted with a recording called “Equilibrium”, which was performed for the first time during The Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw in November 2011. Always restrained towards the harmonic element, Obara was encouraged to enrich the raw sound of classical jazz trio and create the ambitious, mature project of the European character.
Obara also performed with: Tomasz Stanko, Joey Baron, Anders Jormin, Anoine Roney, Alexi Tuomarila, Jakob Bro, Dominik Wania, Michal Miskiewicz, Slawomir Kurkiewicz, Marcin Wasilewski, Maciej Garbowski, Krzysztof Gradziuk, Ralph Alessi, Mark Helias, Nasheet Waits, Fonda Stevens Group, etc.
Review:
Maciej Obara, altoist, though young has already recorded significant albums. Check for example personnel on his last two discs: "Four" (2010) and "Three" (2010). You will probably find it astonishing with whom he already collaborated with! But it shall be less surprise if you know that few years before he was picked up by Tomasz Stańko for his New Balladyna Project. And since you can put two and two together from the list of those names you will already know that he prefers to walk on free side of jazz. With this album however he goes back to different kind of free: rooted rather in Jimmy Giuffre than in Ornette Coleman tradition. That is due to his partners, musicians with whom he already recorded his first two discs: "Message From Ohayo" (2007) and "I Can Do it" (2009). Krzysztof Gradziuk, a drummer, and Maciej Garbowski, a double-bassist, have made their own great careers specializing in merging cool and free elements in jazz and are universally recognized as one of the most exciting rhythm sections in Poland. They are best known from excellent RGG trio and if you check such albums of this band as stunning "Unfinished Story" (2007) dedicated to legendary cool jazz pianist Mieczysław Kosz, fully improvised "True Story" (2009) or recent "One" (2011), you will understand why Polish audience believe that this is probably the only trio in this country to be seriously compared to famous Marcin Wasilewski Trio. Finally, Dominik Wania completes this quartet, who got behind him valuable projects as sideman with Bronisław Suchanek, Jacek Kochan and Tomek Grochot (check "My Stories"), excellent education and immense talent predisposing him to as significant career as those of other members of this young "dream team" of Polish jazz.
But at the end of a day the most important is of course music. And it may be well described by applying a title of first track on this album which is "Cool Madness". It bursts with inner energy and reminds me of some battle between basic elementals, fire and ice, as impersonated by Obara's alto and Wania's piano, submerged in cool and deep space for improvisation as created by Gradziuk's drums and Garbowski's double-bass. Whether they all succeed in finding so much sought equilibrium between those ever conflicting forces is for you to decide...
(review courtesy of Maciej Nowotny and polish-jazz.blogspot.com)
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