Afterword (by Pat Frisco)

Ever have one of those life experiences that totally blindsides you?
From Simon Nabatov's recordings, I think I knew that I could expect a fine
solo piano concert but this one was a killer.  Those of you who were there,
did you enjoy that as much as I did?

And I knew of his versatility and wide scope of creative thoughts and processes.
Marc alluded to that when he introduced Simon, but this went beyond a matter
of being able to play diverse styles.  In fact, I wouldn't even call his approach all that
diverse.  It was all him and unmistakably him whether he was inside the piano,
banging fists, gently sliding across the high end, thundering on the low end, playing
what could have been a modern classical masterpiece, or a free jazz blowout.
Or Herbie Nichols!

I thought it was funny when beginning set two, Simon was almost apologetic,
saying something to the effect that he didn;t want to seem like was trying to cover
the spectrum and be "eclectic" or whatever he said, but hey......Herbie Nichols
is an inspiration, so here's my take.  Herbie meets Xenakis a la Cecil.

For those of you who weren't there, whew, I'm sorry.  See him when you can.
Set one was a long suite of improvised music that explored the lands of the avant-garde.
Atonal clusters, thundering crashes, plucking and scarping the strings, prepared piano,
high energy free-jazz excursions, gentle drops of light, even a little reference to a blues(?).
Set two: takes on Herbie Nichols that skirted all around the themes, sometimes
stated, sometimes implied, and a million and one ideas surrounding the genius of Nichols.