The Russian pianist may be best known for his excellent New York trio with bassist Mark Helias and drummer Tom Rainey, but this ensemble with the German Stefan Schönegg and Swiss Dominik Mahning assuming the roles of the former and latter is impressive.

Nabatov is an all-action, often epic composer whose abundance of ideas has occasionally made his music forbiddingly dense, but there is a winning balance struck between exuberance and subtlety here. On one hand there is a steeplechase quality to a piece such as ‘Fill In The Blanks’, whose suite-like structure appeals for the lack of predictability in the changes of direction, the moments of wily interplay between bass and drums and, above all, the manner in which Nabatov creates a richness of melody in the bass while using the treble, àla Cecil T, as a choppy, percussive reinforcement of the drums. On the other hand, there are much more limpid pieces in which groove takes pride of place and highlights the soulfulness of the leader's improvisations. The net result is a work of near constant shape-shifting, for Nabatov has found a way of extending the legacy of the great Don Pullen, namely pushing his work ‘out’ all the while integrating Afro-Brazilian and Middle Eastern influences – the lithe, sidewinding gnawa implications of the coda of ‘It's A Given’ – in a manner that is anything but clichéd. Compelling.