Maciej Obara Quartet feat. Mathias Eick

A new, expanded incarnation of the Polish-Norwegian ensemble led by saxophonist Maciej Obara. The quartet has, across three albums on ECM, established itself as one of Europe's most distinctive jazz bands — here joined by Norwegian ECM colleague Mathias Eick on trumpet.

The Guardian described Maciej Obara Quartet's debut Unloved as "a contemporary-jazz album of character and exhilarating drive." Together with Eick, they step into a wider and more dynamic sonic world. Mathias Eick is a familiar name to Fasching regulars. WBGO's Nate Chinen has described his trumpet playing as "whispery, murmuring, yet possessed of a clarion focus" — a sound that forms a natural counterpoint to Obara's scorching saxophone lines.

Here, Scandinavian lyricism and Central European intensity meet in music that takes the quartet's already established language into new territory.