Brandon Seabrook + Simon Nabatov - Voluptuaries

2021 release

The New York City Jazz Record August 2021

The layers propelling Stove Top are enacted as real-time duet on Voluptuaries by Seabrook (here only on electric guitar) and pianist Simon Nabatov. Leading with the crashing, tearing “Daggers”, the pair improvise their way through a dozen titles, calling on the many facets of free music, at points all in the same phrase. But even on the motion-filled opener, Seabrook and Nabatov’s coda stops time, allowing the reverb of both instruments to linger ominously as Seabrook manipulates his volume knob and Nabatov his sustain pedal. Similarly, on “Who Never Dies”, after burning through rapid-fire runs, the pair shifts dynamics considerably and the piano’s lower strings are plucked, the effect somewhat reminiscent of Harry Partch’s percussive metallic tubing. “Dust Storms”, however, is the piece that lures the ear, a moving evocative piano melody, at once modern and romantic, colored by open chording, tremolo bar and volume manipulations, as well as use of detuning the instrument’s low E string to fathoms below. “Grospeak” contains the same evocative power, more so, though here the masterful, dark piano playing recalls a distant howling on a starless night. The duet itself—its levels and sympathetic interplay—seems to have reached its zenith on this piece, with the piano’s maximalism both thwarted and advanced by the electric bite of guitar.

John Pietaro