Bassist

Rising star Mali Obomsawin is a proud citizen of the Odanak First Nation whose boundary-defying work brings Indigenous tradition into dynamic conversation with modern jazz and contemporary improvisation. A gifted bassist, vocalist, composer, and songwriter, Obomsawin leads her eponymous ensemble in music that draws on Native rhythms and chants while exploring expressive harmonies and free-jazz influences. Her performances are both deeply rooted and boldly experimental, weaving stories of culture, identity, and resilience into a vibrant, immersive sound world. Making her Spoleto Festival debut, Obomsawin invites audiences into a present and transformative musical journey where tradition and innovation meet.

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Mali Obomsawin

Dock Street Theatre

Mali Obomsawin is a genre-defying bassist, composer, vocalist, and proud citizen of the Odanak First Nation. She scored the 2024 National Geographic documentary Sugarcane, which helped bring light to the injustice and abuses of the Canadian Indian residential school system. In this special screening of the film, the Mali Obomsawin Quartet plays the score live to picture. Obomsawin’s music models 21st-century Indigeneity, challenging listeners’ complacency while comforting with lush and haunting harmonies.

Sugarcane

Stanford University

Bassist, singer, and bandleader Mali Obomsawin performs music from their debut album Sweet Tooth, a project that shines a light on the Indigenous history of jazz and expresses the vitality and contemporary nature of Indigenous culture.

An Abenaki from Odanak First Nation, Obomsawin studied with the renowned cornetist and composer Taylor Ho Bynam at Dartmouth, an institution originally founded in the 18th century to educate the Wabanaki people, and they discovered the archived and unheard field recordings of their Odanak ancestors in storage – recordings that have been integrated into Sweet Tooth.

SFJAZZ Center

MALI OBOMSAWIN (they/she) is an award winning bassist, songwriter and composer from Abenaki First Nation at Odanak. With an expansive background in American roots, rock, and jazz, Obomsawin carries several music traditions. Mali’s debut album Sweet Tooth has received international acclaim since its release (Out of Your Head Records 2022), including rave reviews and “best of 2022” placement in The Guardian, JazzTimes, and NPR. A Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist, they spent the years 2014-2021 touring internationally with beloved folk-rock band Lula Wiles. An in-demand bassist in the folk and jazz circuits, Mali appears often as an accompanist with contemporaries like Jake Blount and Lizzie No, and has performed at premier festivals like Newport and Philly Folk Fest. She can also be found in galleries and creative music spaces with the likes of Peter Apfelbaum, Taylor Ho Bynum, and Bill Cole's Untempered Ensemble. In addition to their artistic work, Obomsawin is a community organizer dedicated to land justice and tribal sovereignty.

The Flynn

Mali Obomsawin is a bassist, singer and composer from Odanak First Nation. Her debut album Sweet Tooth (Out of Your Head Records, 2022) has garnered international acclaim, named in ‘best of the year’ lists from Grammy.com to The Guardian. Evocative and thunderous, Mali's touring XTET delivers a gripping and dynamic performance, seamlessly melding chorale-like spirituals, folk melodies, and post-Albert Ayler free jazz. Obomsawin’s ensemble occupies a musical universe completely their own, bringing skronk and reverence to every stage.

Bassist

Mali Obomsawin

Events

Past events

23 - 24 May, 2026

Mali Obomsawin · Spoleto Festival USA

Nov 7, 2025

Sugarcane · Stanford Live

About

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