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Maciej Obara: Unloved

By Mike Jurkovic
December 23, 2017
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Seemingly from thin air, the meditative music on Unloved, Polish alto saxophonist

Maciej Obara

saxophone
b.1981

" data-original-title="" title="">Maciej Obara's ECM debut, envelopes you in its improvisatory, chamber atmosphere and stays with you through the darker parts of the day.

Spectral piano

Dominik Wania

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Dominik Wania, expressive double bass

" data-original-title="" title="">Ole Morten V?gan and airy percussion Gard Nilssden, composers and band leaders all, contribute mightily and selflessly to Obara's bare, lyrical sketches; filling them out and forming them into a whole consciousness, into motifs and tone poems of quiet power and resilience.

Mellow like whispers, "Ula," "One For," and "Joli Bord" set the tone for Unloved, an edge of sleep music wherein the warmth of blankets, or a lover, releases the previous anxious hours. The frisky, bass driven "Sleepwalker" breaks the quiet spell. As if foreshadowing another crazy day of life on Earth, the following "Echoes" is an all out, free-for-all-jam, with Wania throwing melodic shards and block chords wantonly, Obara blowing with the brashest tone he uses throughout, and Vagan and Nilssen muscling through the ecstatic nine minutes. The album closes as it began, with the ruminative "Storyteller."

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Track Listing

Ula; One For; Joli Bord; Unloved; Sleepwalker; Echoes; Storyteller.

Personnel

Maciej Obara

saxophone

Maciej Obara: alto saxophone; Dominik Wania: piano; Ole Morten V?gan double bass; Gard Nilssen drums.

Album information

Title: Unloved | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: ECM Records

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