Home » Jazz Articles » Mike Nock
Jazz Articles about Mike Nock
Mike Nock & Dave Liebman: Duologue
by John Kelman
New Zealand-born pianist Mike Nock and American saxophonist Dave Liebman first crossed paths in the '60s when Nock was living in the US, first coming to attention with the proto-fusion group Fourth Way. They haven't seen each other in over two decades, last working together on Liebman's The Opal Heart (Enja, 1982). Recorded live at Australia's Wangaratta Jazz Festival in the fall of 2004, Duologue has the intimate and unassuming feel of two artists for whom the years melted away ...
read moreMike Nock / Frank Gibson: Open Door
by John Kelman
Sometimes you have to follow your heart. After a quarter of a century in the US, during which time he co-founded the seminal fusion group The Fourth Way and released a series of superb albums including In Out and Around (Timeless, 1978) and Ondas (ECM, 1981), pianist Mike Nock returned to Australia, where he's lived since 1985. There he has continued to lead an active musical life as a composer, performer and educator. New Zealander Frank Gibson is not as ...
read moreMike Nock's Bigsmallband: Live
by John Kelman
With relatively few recordings as a leader over a career that is now in its fifth decade, any new release from New Zealand pianist Mike Nock is an event. After living in the US for twenty years where, amongst other things, he was a member of the early fusion group Fourth Way, Nock returned to Australia. He has lived there ever since, becoming a leading figure as performer, educator, and mentor to up-and-coming musicians on the Australian jazz scene. He's ...
read moreMike Nock - Marty Ehrlich: The Waiting Game
by Glenn Astarita
The Waiting Game is all about two top-flight jazz professionals uniting for a series of duets consisting of original compositions and a few standards along with arrangements of traditional songs. Multi-reedman Marty Ehrlich is an important figure in modern jazz, as few will argue that notion. Along with the skillful and ever-resourceful pianist Mike Nock (who is also the artistic director for NAXOS jazz), the duo cover a variety of themes and ideas yet for the most part, The Waiting ...
read moreMike Nock and Marty Ehrlich: The Waiting Game
by C. Michael Bailey
Duo. The Waiting Game probably has more in common with Mark Ramsden and Steve Lodder ( Above The Clouds, Naxos Jazz 84041-2) than Buddy DeFranco and Dave McKenna or George Cables and Art Pepper. This disc is almost completely improvisatory in nature, Nock and Ehrlich working from simple motifs with a fair share of famous Nock abstraction. The majority of the pieces are original, excepting Brubeck’s “The Duke” and James P. Johnson’s “Snowy Morning Blues”. Mike Nock is, of course, ...
read moreMike Nock Quintet: Ozboppin'
by C. Michael Bailey
A Man for All Seasons. Since Naxos Jazz released its first discs, one name continually pops up both as a performer, producer and executive producer: New Zealander Mike Nock. Nock has already performed on two Naxos Jazz discs: The angular Mike Nock Trio Not We But One (86006-2) and the rollicking New York Jazz Collective’s I don’t Know This World Without Don Cherry (86003-2). He has acted as producer or executive producer on a large number of the current Naxos ...
read more
Giveaway
Days remaining: 1
