Maciej Obara Quartet feat. Mathias Eick

Polish alto saxophonist Maciej Obara once described his approach this way: The themes serve merely as a blueprint, “from which our sound is set free.” Essentially, he said, it’s more like “composing in real time.” This kind of free improvisation requires fellow musicians who bring openness and sensitivity to what’s in the air, what’s possible, and what can emerge from a sketch. Together with pianist Dominik Wania—who is also from Poland—and Norwegians Ole Morten Vågan (b) and Gard Nilssen (dr), Obara—who once worked with Tomasz Stańko—has formed a band that weaves subtle narrative structures, performs with great versatility, and intuitively picks up on the accents of his fellow musicians. Their ECM albums attest to the quartet’s richness of form and improvisational skills. For their live performances, they’ve now brought a highly regarded trumpeter onto the stage—the Norwegian Mathias Eick. The dialogues between the wind players are just as exciting as the new dynamics created by the expansion of the group.