John Fordham, <\/a> guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 December 2011 18.57 GMT<\/p>\nBorn out of struggles with reactionary communist bureaucrats, torn between yearnings for the west and the sounds of its own culture, 20th-century Polish jazz displayed character, originality, erudition and subversive wit \u2013 and the country produced giants such as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, not to mention Roman Polanski’s legendary movie-score composer Krzysztof Komeda.<\/p>\n
A mini-festival of contemporary Polish jazz, run over the last few days by arts promoters Deconstruction Project, brought the story up to date, introducing some seditious jazz stars of the 21st century, such as pianist Marcin Masecki, synth-accordionist Piotr Kurek and the gifted alto saxophonist Maciej Obara, whose reputation is spreading fast (he’s already booked for the London jazz festival next year).<\/p>\n
At the festival’s opening show, which took place at Hackney’s Vortex club, Obara played a long set with a powerful trio that included the pianist Dominik Wania. A compact, barrel-chested young man, weaving and crouching, Obara displayed an inventiveness and stamina that reminded me of the veteran improv master Lee Konitz. Wania, too, is a real find \u2013 a superb improviser with the confidence to toy with an audience’s patience. His spacey, tentative opening contributions built up to tumbling melody and muscular chordwork.<\/p>\n
The set contained episodes of laid-back swing, free-jazz shufflings, hints of Latin groove and of Ornette Coleman-like freebop. Close to the finale, Wania launched into an unaccompanied solo of jarring contrapuntal lines that were eventually underpinned by a walking bass hook. Obara’s is by inclination a free-jazz group, but it’s one with discipline and a sense of narrative shape \u2013 and it set the young audience smiling. British listeners will be hearing a lot more.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/music\/2011\/dec\/07\/maciej-obara-polish-jazz-review<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vortex, London, John Fordham, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 December 2011 18.57 GMT Born out of struggles with reactionary communist bureaucrats, torn between yearnings for the west and the sounds of its own culture, 20th-century Polish jazz displayed character, originality, erudition and subversive wit \u2013 and the country produced giants such as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, not to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":81,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
Maciej Obara \u2013 review - Maciej Obara<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maciej Obara \u2013 review - Maciej Obara\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Vortex, London, John Fordham, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 December 2011 18.57 GMT Born out of struggles with reactionary communist bureaucrats, torn between yearnings for the west and the sounds of its own culture, 20th-century Polish jazz displayed character, originality, erudition and subversive wit \u2013 and the country produced giants such as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, not to […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maciej Obara\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-07T13:41:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-04-18T10:12:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"redesigned\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"redesigned\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/\",\"name\":\"Maciej Obara \u2013 review - Maciej Obara\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-07T13:41:59+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-04-18T10:12:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09a82e59dfc72e440c4b86c4767e7c6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg\",\"width\":100,\"height\":100},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Strona g\u0142\u00f3wna\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Maciej Obara \u2013 review\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/\",\"name\":\"Maciej Obara\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09a82e59dfc72e440c4b86c4767e7c6e\",\"name\":\"redesigned\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/author\/redesigned\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Maciej Obara \u2013 review - Maciej Obara","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Maciej Obara \u2013 review - Maciej Obara","og_description":"Vortex, London, John Fordham, guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 7 December 2011 18.57 GMT Born out of struggles with reactionary communist bureaucrats, torn between yearnings for the west and the sounds of its own culture, 20th-century Polish jazz displayed character, originality, erudition and subversive wit \u2013 and the country produced giants such as trumpeter Tomasz Stanko, not to […]","og_url":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/","og_site_name":"Maciej Obara","article_published_time":"2011-12-07T13:41:59+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-04-18T10:12:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":100,"height":100,"url":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"redesigned","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"redesigned","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/","url":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/","name":"Maciej Obara \u2013 review - Maciej Obara","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg","datePublished":"2011-12-07T13:41:59+00:00","dateModified":"2017-04-18T10:12:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09a82e59dfc72e440c4b86c4767e7c6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg","width":100,"height":100},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/press\/maciej-obara-review\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Strona g\u0142\u00f3wna","item":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Maciej Obara \u2013 review"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#website","url":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/","name":"Maciej Obara","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/maciejobara.com\/#\/schema\/person\/09a82e59dfc72e440c4b86c4767e7c6e","name":"redesigned","url":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/author\/redesigned\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/maciejobara.com\/cnt\/upld\/2017\/04\/guardian.jpg\")
\n