SIMON NABATOV – Simon Nabatov Plays Herbie Nichols (DVD)
Simon Nabatov is a gentle bear of a man who seems to struggle a bit when forced to put the quintessence of music and inspiration in plain words. But, when turning to the piano keyboard, his fingers do all the necessary talking, shutting an enraptured audience up in the process. A child prodigy born in Moscow in 1959, Nabatov is a classically trained instrumentalist, a phenomenal technique gradually developed in long years of study at prestigious schools such as New York’s Juilliard. Once in the Big Apple, suddenly young Simon’s horizon began to expand and include myriads of different interests and influences (one of the most important being Paul Bley). Having to choose, he dedicated himself to jazz and improvisation completely, ultimately starting a career that has seen him performing with a literal who’s who of illustrious names: Paul Motian, Kenny Wheeler, Phil Minton, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg, and many others.
Nabatov became interested in Herbie Nichols’s work by listening to Mengelberg’s interpretations and to trombonist Roswell Rudd, a pupil and collaborator of the influential composer (largely famous for penning the evergreen “Lady Sings The Blues”). In this concert, recorded at Cologne’s Loft in 2009, the pianist tackles that and other songs by the same author – among them, “2300 Skiddoo”, “Twelve Bars” and the magnificent “Terpsichore” – with disciplined fervor and impressive harmonic command. In the short segment (added as a bonus feature in the DVD) where the Russian explains his improvisational concept, he refers to a kind of “mental library” of elements to draw from when the occasion is right and to the alertness maintained during the impromptu analysis of the tunes, in order to catch every suggestion “with the aerials raised”. This is very clear to see over the whole set: the hands don’t play a wrong note throughout, and their owner’s face is a joy to contemplate in its alternance of closed-eyes smiles and ecstatic strenuousness.
The film – shot by Plush Music and produced by Hayden Chisholm – masterful shifts the focus from the artist’s physical and technical expressions to the insides of the instrument, finely emphasizing the character of Nabatov’s logically zealous renditions while giving us a chance of watching the soul of a sensitive musician exposed. This gentleman has made the search for the perfect equilibrium between thrill and sophistication a raison d’être. This full hour of awesome playing combines the best of two worlds, the notion of virtuosity – an unpronounceable word in these days of inaudible scrape-and-hiss and artificial posturing – associated to the performer’s ever-cogent infatuation for the material. Nichols, who died prematurely in 1963 of leukemia, is certainly nodding a convinced approval.
