Mike Nock: Hearing

Mike Nock has had a varied sixty-five-year musical journey, receiving many awards and honours. It has been thirty years since he released his celebrated solo piano album Touch, recorded at the Australian Broadcasting Commission's Eugene Goossens Hall in Sydney in 1993. Hearing has him returning to the same hall for another solo album and, as the title indicates, it is all about the facility of perceiving sounds aptly and interpreting them in a particular way on a range of his compositions and tunes from a few of his favourite musicians, Bryce Rohde, Bernie McGann and Jonathan Zwartz.

A spontaneously delicate bijou of an opener, "Prologue," is followed by " Sunrise," from Nock's first solo album in 1978. The improvisation, "Conundrum" then leads to "Vale John," a work in progress at the time, which celebrates the life and friendship the pianist experienced with the drummer & bandleader John Pochée who sadly died unexpectedly a day before the recording.

A brief stellar Nock reimagining, "Re-Affirmation" leads on to a delicate interpretation of Jonathan Zwartz's, "And in the Night Comes Rain" which he originally wrote for the pianist, proves sonically blissful, as does the other brief improvisation "Jacanori." Bernie McGann's iconic "Spirit Song," now almost an Australian standard, is interpreted sensitively to the original. "Journey through an Imaginary Landscape" meanders towards a personal favourite on the album, the pianist's interpretation of the Bryce Rohde composition, "Windows of Arquez." The atmosphere of quiet which runs right through this recording is reason alone to recommend it. More space is given between notes than is expected from a solo piano recording. This recording is all about becoming cognisant of sound. Finally, it is not what you play but how you play. This is a recording of virtuosic and introspective pianism, with occasions of playfulness and melody. Mike Nock's session of interpretations and improvisations gives the feeling of a continuation of an intimate, unique, and personal musical adventure from a master of his craft.