Simon Nabatov, pianist and composer, was born in Moscow 1959 in a musician's family. He started to play piano at the age of 3 and to compose at 6.
After attending the renowned Central Music School and Moscow Conservatory he landed in 1979 in USA, where he continued his studies at the prestigious Juilliard School of Music in New York, the city in which he spent the next 10 years.
In 1989 he moved to Germany, settling in Cologne where he resides presently. His musical activities include jazz, improvised, experimental and world music.

Nabatov has attained world-wide reputation through his solo concerts as well as numerous long-time collaborations – in duos with Steve Lacy, Nils Wogram, Tom Rainey, Han Bennink, Ernst Reijseger and Matthias Schubert; with the NDR Bigband; in quartets of Ray Anderson, Arthur Blythe and Perry Robinson, among others.