Simon
Nabatov was
born 1959 in Moscow, Russia. His
musical education began at the age of 3, his father, himself
a musician, being the first teacher. The Central School of
Music and Moscow Conservatory were the next steps. After the
whole family emigrated and settled in New York in 1979,
Nabatov continued his studies at the Juilliard
School Of Music.
By that time his interest and involvement in jazz and
improvised music grew strong enough to make them his main
activity. Since
then he performed and recorded with many fine musicians such
as Paul Motian,Tony Scott, Sonny Fortune,
Kenny
Wheeler,
Alan
Skidmore, Herb
Robertson,
Louis
Sclavis, Charles McPhearson, Billy Hart, David Murray, Paul
Horn, Ricki Ford, Marty
Ehrlich,
Mark
Dresser,
Jim
Snidero, Herb Geller, Dave Pike, Attila Zoller, Matthias
Schubert, Barry Altschul, Vladimir Tarasov, John
Betsch,
Ed
Schuller,
Arto
Tuncboyaci, Adam Nussbaum, Jay
Clayton,
Ron
McClure,
Mark
Feldman, Drew
Gress,
Phil Minton, Michael Moore, Han Bennink, Misha Mengelberg,
Wolter Wierbos and many others. He
enjoyed continuous work with Ray
Anderson Quartet,
Arthur Blythe Quartet, NDR
Big Band
(Hamburg,Germany),
Steve
Lacy -
Simon Nabatov Duo, Perry
Robinson
Quartet,
Nils
Wogram Quartet,
Nils Wogram - Simon Nabatov Duo, Matthias Schubert Quartet,
Matthias Schubert - Simon Nabatov Duo, Klaus König
Orchestra. His
own projects and activities include solo
recitals, trio
with the bassist Mark
Helias
and
the drummer Tom
Rainey (both
based in New York), quartet
"Nature Morte" with the British vocalist
Phil
Minton,
multi reed-player
Frank
Gratkowski
and
trombonist Nils Wogram (both from Germany),
quintet
including his trio plus the violinist Mark
Feldman
and
the trumpet player Herb Robertson ( both residing in New
York). The
most recent addition to the list is the formed in 2003
trio
Nabatov - Reijseger - Vatcher. The current edition of it
includes the Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger and the American
drummer Michael Sarin. As
the co-leader Nabatov plays duos
with
Nils Wogram, Tom Rainey, Dutch cellist Ernst Reijseger,
German tenor sax player
Matthias
Schubert
,
Dutch drummer Han
Bennink
and
with the Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg. Simon
Nabatov performed and recorded numerous pieces of chamber
music, some of them written specially for him: "Piano
Concerto "Baba" by the American
pianist/composer
Kenny
Werner,
"Sonata for violin and piano" by the Irish bassist/composer
Ronan
Guilfoyle,"Trumpet
Sonata", "Cello Sonata", "Trio for flute,cello and piano" by
the Swiss reed-player/composer Daniel
Schnyder.
He also performed and recorded some of the more known
"crossover" works, such as "Rhapsody in Blue" by George
Gershwin (NDR Symphony Orchestra Hannover,1998) or "Concerto
for Jazz Ensemble and Orchestra" by Rolf Liebermann (NDR
Symphony Orchestra and Big Band,
Hamburg,1996). Nabatov
was among the winners of the 3rd "International Great Jazz
Pianist Competition" in Jacksonville, USA (2nd prize) in
1985 and of the "Martial Solal International Jazz Piano
Competition" in Paris, France (3rd prize) in 1989. In 1987
he was awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the
Arts (NEA). Simon
Nabatov made numerous radio productions for most major
European broadcasting companies: WDR, NDR, HR, BR, SFR,
Radio France, Radio Zürich, Radio Ireland
etc. A
more recent and by far the largest radio production project
(co - sponsored by WDR and Bayer AG) saw him write and
record over 6 hours of music for solo piano, duo (with the
American reed player Michael Moore), his trio, the quartet
"Nature Morte" and the quintet. Beginning of 2000 the Swiss
label
HatHut
Records
brought
out
the first recording - the trio release "Sneak
Preview".
The
next three recordings, quartet "Nature Morte", quintet "The
Master and Margarita" and solo "Perpetuum Immobile" have
been released by Leo
Records .
Two more CD´s - " Chat Room" ( duo with Han Bennink )
and "Autumn Music" ( trio with Ernst Reijseger and Michael
Vatcher ) were brought out by this independent English
label. The
most recent project produced by WDR was a 90 - minute piece
" A Few Incidents" based on the texts of Russian writer
Daniil Charms. The octet
included Phil Minton, Frank Gratkowski, Nils Wogram, Ernst
Reijseger, Cor Fuhler, Matt Penman, Michael Sarin and Simon
Nabatov. Simon
Nabatov has taught at the Folkwang Hochschule, Essen
(1989-1991) and at the International Jazz and Rock Academy,
Remscheid (1991-1993), both in Germany. From 1998 to 2001 he
taught at the Musikhochschule
Luzern,
Switzerland. Since
1989 he resides predominantly in Cologne, Germany, but keeps
an apartment and a part of his heart in New
York.
mail:simon@nabatov.com
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