Frank Gratkowski, Simon Nabatov: Tender Mercies

This collection of seven duets from pianist Simon Nabatov and reedman Frank Gratkowski stands as one of those times when the late Misha Mengelberg's term "instant composition" for a series of seat-of-the-pants encounters makes absolute sense. Perhaps that should not be a surprise, considering the protagonists histories and shared base in the German city of Cologne.

Indeed, their association dates back to at least 1999, when the reedman appeared as part of a quartet on Nabatov's Nature Morte (Leo), but it is an acquaintance which has been renewed numerous times since, not least in a previous duo outing Mirthful Myths (Leo, 2017) and, with the addition of drummer Dominik Mahnig, on Dance Hall Stories (Leo, 2020).

The unison piano and alto saxophone flourishes which start the opening "Turn Of Events" could have come straight off the page. The connection does not fade even as they progress through a succession of different moods: romantic piano interwoven with slightly acerbic alto saxophone; ballad textures; unspooling lines simultaneously twining around one another like plants vying for light; a helter skelter dash, followed by a sudden cooling. Such mercurial escapades are made all the more possible by the pared back format, and the pair make the most of those possibilities on each track.

Gratkowski uncases an arsenal of reeds, switching between alto saxophone, flute, clarinet and bass clarinet, and varying his attack from pure tones to yelps, bleats, susurrations and juddering multiphonics. Nabatov embodies a mountain of technique, but does not let that get in the way of whatever the music needs in the moment. While he revels in independent ideas in each hand, heard to particularly good effect in "Safe Home," he also does not shy away from melody or stylistic markers, such as the near ragtime feel later in the same cut. At times, such a blend of abstraction and accessibility recalls the classic Duets 1976 (Arista, 1976) by Anthony Braxton and Muhal Richard Abrams.

Nabatov and Gratkowski save the most cathartic episodes for the concluding "Disgruntled Settlement," an examination of extremes in which Gratkowski juxtaposes gutbucket bass clarinet blurts with whistles in the bat squeak register, as Nabatov essays lurching blocky bass clusters interspersed with right hand splashes in the treble. Gradually, the pianist excavates a rhythmic figure which at first underpins, then anchors the explosions, until eventually it becomes the basis of a final joint repetition, which supplies the hoped for resolution.

To a tee, it rounds off an album which both dazzles and delights.

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