Omasta

Omasta takes its name from a Kraków dialect word for the fat stirred into a dish for flavour, which is about as accurate a description of the band's sound as a press kit could hope for. The five-piece builds on heavy drums and deep bass, layering trumpet, soprano saxophone, flute and piano over grooves borrowed from Detroit and Los Angeles beat culture, instrumental hip-hop and 1970s fusion. The group officially debuted in February 2024 with a J Dilla tribute at the Kraków club Paul's Boutique, and within a year had played Ronnie Scott's, The Jazz Cafe, Ancienne Belgique and Gent Jazz Festival, opened for Slum Village, and shared stages with Aquiles Navarro, Tenderlonious and Polish jazz veteran Leszek Żądło. Their debut, Jazz Report from the Hood (Astigmatic Records, 2025), landed on several year-end lists. The follow-up, Hits Different, arrived in October 2026 and trades autobiography for a narrator's eye, telling its story in eleven scenes that, by the band's own account, do not end happily.