Mali Obomsawin

There is a deep call, from the bottom of the river, from the gleaming brass of a trumpet, from the soul of a stand up bass. Mali Obomsawin has heard it and grasped it with both hands. The bandleader, singer, upright bassist and general polymath’s most recent album, Sweet Tooth, was a beguiling and haunting trek through free jazz freakouts, curdled hymns and unscripted beauty. Obomsawin is from the Abenaki First Nation at Odanak, and the longing and reflection that shimmers out from Sweet Tooth reveals a lineage of genocide, colonialism and a slow death of wilderness. It’s not easy listening, but Sweet Tooth, and Obomsawin’s, mastery of jazz’s revolutionary sound and history makes it necessary listening. We talked with Obomsawin below.