Ancient Sorrow by Michael Moore - Simon Nabatov

One only hopes for serendipity in collaboration. One only hopes to get out of ones own way. One only hopes to quiet the voices and find the stream and plug into it. One only hopes to be responsible for oneself and for one's colleague so that there is a surfeit of business being taken care of; so that creativity has a safe space within which to operate. But ultimately it is about giving whatever you've got but not all of it at one time... patience....nothing to prove.....with space to be created for the playing partner and the listening partners. We are all listening partners. Underneath it all musicians tend to trust one another, especially the ones who have committed to music in the long term with all the pain and jubilation that it entails. We (musicians) are the lucky ones and as listeners we are the other lucky ones who get to hear this recording, Ancient Sorrow. There are also ancient joys in attendance as I hear very old sources being conjured in ways that are not so obvious. Improvisers like Simon and Michael have access to so much of the musical lexicon that anything can be sourced, from plainsong to Gospel. They are both truly fluent in the language of poetic musical expression.

Two master musicians and composers collaborating at, what I can only characterize as, the highest level... and that is a good thing.
Thank you, gentlemen.

Mark Helias 10/2020

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.