Nature Morte by Simon Nabatov Quartet

Russian-born Nabatov has been receiving a lot of accolades lately for his virtuoso trio work. His compositions and improvising have always been marked by a restlessness, which finds him shifting formal devices like meter as often as he does styles and moods. With Nature Morte, he shifts to a new improvising idiom, foregoing the relatively settled context of the trio for an adventurous instrumentation of voice, trombone, reeds, and piano. These superb improvisers contend with Nabatov's scoring for Josef Brodsky's 10-part poem of the same name.

There aren't too many precedents for text-based projects in the improv world - one thinks of Lacy, for sure, and some of Phil Minton's own prior work - but this unique quartet has clearly let the text sink into its pores. Minton sounds particularly impassioned in his recital of this rich but ambiguous meditation on life and death. He is at his best in projects like these, with enough structure to reign in his most schticky tendencies. He can use his full range of voices - from robotic to splattering to banshee wail - to highlight the nuances of the text. His recitation over the craggy 'bone and alto line on "Part 2" is very effective and "Part 5" is a memorable feature for his multiple vocal personalities.

The pairing of Gratkowski and Wogram was particularly pleasing. I've been more and more impressed with Gratkowski of late, who seems to be able to do just about anything on his reeds, from supersonic Giuffre-like explorations on the B-flat to honks and chortles on the alto. So I was pleasantly surprised to hear him spending a lot of time with his flutes on this program. Newer to me was Wogram, who is clearly a comer. He's got the total post-Mangelsdorff package: the whinnying multiphonics, the stentorian voices, the outlandish braying, and the fragile lyricism. And when he and Gratkowski really link up, as on the dizzy race that ends "Part 4," the effects are startling.

Nabatov's own piano is superb, from his dense chording to his highly rhythmic playing or graceful melodies; he is both an abstract painter and a sober, deliberate voice that complements Minton's reading of the text. He is spiky and jarring when he needs to be, as in "Part 3" or on his inside-the-piano explorations during "Parts 6-7," but he can also sober things up, playing gorgeously, delicately, even ephemerally.

The ensemble goes whole hog on the final piece, playing quite soulfully. One certainly doesn't miss a "traditional" instrumentation - these four mavericks are able to conjure a myriad of moods, textures, and evocative sounds in a way that both suits the chilly text and charts out new poetic realms of its own. This is a splendid release.

Jason Bivins

Simon Nabatov, pianist and composer, was born in Moscow in 1959.
In 1979 he emigrated to the USA, spent in NY next 10 years and 1989 he moved to Germany.
Simon Nabatov played with the "who's who" of the jazz and improvised music community, gave concerts in over 60 countries, appeared on the numerous international festivals, received prizes and documented his music on 30 CD's under his own name.