Mike Nock

Michael Anthony Nock ( born September 27, 1940 in Christchurch, New Zealand) is a New Zealand pianist and synthesizer pioneer of fusion and modern jazz.

Life and work

Nock received his first musical training from his father and then taught himself further. At fourteen he left school to become a musician at age eighteen, he moved to Sydney, where it came to his first recordings. In 1960 he played with his own group in London. From 1961 to 1962 he studied at the Berklee College of Music in Boston and played at this time in Herb Pomeroy, Pee Wee Russell, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Golson and Phil Woods, also in the house band at the club Lennie 's on the Turnpike in Boston. He then belonged to the band of Yusef Lateef, with whom he went on tour. He then worked in New York City with Art Blakey, Wild Bill Davison, Sam Rivers, Sonny Stitt, Stanley Turrentine and Booker Ervin. In 1967 he played with Steve Marcus at the Newport Jazz Festival. Then he went to San Francisco and was 1967/68 member of the band of John Handy, from which with Michael White, Ron McClure and Eddie Marshall, the jazz-rock group The Fourth Way originated. These existing until 1971 band played an 'equivalent mixture of acoustic bop and free music " ( Nock ) and acquired at performances at the festivals in Monterey (1968) and Montreux (1970 ) international reputation. Then Nock worked as a studio musician and composer and was concerned with electronic music, but also occurred with Azteca and in a duo with Steve Swallow. In 1975 he moved back to New York, where he worked with John Klemmer, Thad Jones, Tal Farlow, Jeremy Steig, Bob Mover and Eric Kloss. In 1978, he played a two solo albums. He also worked in a trio with Eddie Gomez and Jon Christensen.

In 1985, Nock a position as a teacher at the New South Wales Conservatory in Sydney, where in 2001 he own big formations presented (CD Big Small Band ). He also worked on recordings by Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Al Foster, Dave Liebman, Marty Ehrlich, Gordon Brisker and Peter O'Mara. His album Open Door with drummer Frank Gibson was honored as Best Jazz Album of the Year 1987 in the New Zealand Music Awards.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Climbing ( Tomato, 1979) with Tom Harrell, John Abercrombie, David Friesen and Al Foster
• Ondas ( ECM, 1981)
• In Out And Around ( Timeless, 1989) with Michael Brecker, George Mraz, Al Foster
• Touch ( Birdland, 1993) solo
• Not We But One (Naxos Jazz, 1996) with Anthony Cox, Tony Reedus
• The Waiting Game ( Naxos Jazz, 1999) with Marty Ehrlich