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| 3.950 Ft
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| 1. | Threeplay
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| 2. | Cry Me A River
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| 3. | Endgame
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| 4. | Cyberspace Shuffle
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| 5. | Transitions
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| 6. | Not We But One
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| 7. | Kiss
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| 8. | Antarctic Ice
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| 9. | Hadrian's Wall
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| 10. | Your Smile
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| 11. | Praxis
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Jazz / Contemporary Jazz
Mike Nock Trio
Herewith a recent chapter in the continuing world travels of world class pianist Mike Nock. Presently resident in Australia, he started out in New Zealand, then went, via Europe, to Boston's Berklee School and from there, with Yusef Lateef, to New York, from whence to San Francisco and a great breaking of ground with The Fourth Way, then back to New York, making albums with the likes of Charlie Mariano, John Abercrombie and Michael Brecker, pulling some of their best work out of each. All this prior to assuming his current role as teacher at the Jazz Studies division of the Sydney Conservatorium and leading his own bands.
Pardon a clich*, but for Nock, it's true: he's been everywhere and done everything, and done it all quite well, usually ahead of trends. This suits him well; Nock is anything but trendy. He is his own man, takes his music seriously enough to not take himself too seriously, and knows that a true style of one's own is never out of fashion.
The piano/bass/drums trio format is an ideal context for a versatile artist like Nock. It combines the intimacy of chamber music and solo settings with the collective interplay that's always been at the heart of jazz at its best, a communal sharing process. Trio is not unfamiliar ground for Nock, nor are its sub-permutations: he made an outstanding duo album a while back with drummer Frank Gibson Jr. ("OPEN DOOR" on the New Zealand ODE label). Long before that, the first time I heard Nock play, at Sweet Basil in New York's Greenwich Village, just a few days after Duke Ellington's death, he was in duo with bassist Rick Laird.
His bandmates here stand him - and one another - in good stead. Their listening and their ideas encompass plenty of common ground which is anything but common. Bassist Anthony Cox, an Oklahoman now based in Minneapolis, is, like Nock, at home anywhere he makes music. He's led albums and bands of his own, and is part another trio, RIOS, with Dino Saluzzi and David Friedman. Cox knows many facets of the jazz gem and polishes them all. Drummer Tony Reedus has ably provided percussive propulsion for many: I first heard him in the early 1980s with Woody Shaw's quintet, and he's been a busy man ever since - busy with gigs, not in his playing, which is an important distinction here. He can chill at will and knows when to do so.
One subject we can't fail to address is the Bill Evans influence. It seems accurate to say that most any piano/bass/drums trio since the early 1960s which does not bear Evans* influence lacks it by intent (which is still an influence, albeit subtractive). To do so would be to forfeit much fertile ground, which these guys have not done. Nock and company revel in the Evans tradition in the best way: for them that heritage forms part of the foundation, and they don't let it turn into barrier walls.
There's plenty of profoundly introspective conversation here, most obviously in the free improvisations, but also in the composed pieces. They agree on mileposts to be passed, but if the music takes one of those unforeseen alternate routes, all are open to the journey itself becoming the destination. When they go walkabout, there is intent, and focus: introspective and thoughtful, yes; introverted or esoterically self-referencing, no, decidedly not.
There is reward here for any open ear.
Mike Nock
Active Decades: '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and '00s
Born: Sep 27, 1940 in Christchurch, New Zealand
Genre: Jazz
Mike Nock has long been one of the top modern jazz keyboardists to emerge from his part of the world. Nock began taking piano lessons from his father when he was 11. He began gigging four years later and at 18 moved to Australia. After heading a trio that toured England in 1961, Nock went to the U.S. to attend the Berklee College of Music. After a year he dropped out of school to be the house pianist at a Boston club and had opportunities to work with Coleman Hawkins, Pee Wee Russell, Phil Woods and Sam Rivers among many others. Nock gained some recognition during his period as a member of Yusef Lateef's band (1963-65). He led his own combos, gigged for a short period with the Jazz Messengers and eventually moved to San Francisco where he worked with John Handy. During 1968-70 Nock was involved with fusion, leading the Fourth Way, a pioneer in the idiom. After a few years he became a studio musician in New York (1975-85) and then returned to Australia where he has been busy as both an educator (teaching at the N.S.W. Conservatorium of Music) and as a musician, occasionally revisiting the U.S. As a leader, Nock recorded as early as 1960 (Move which was recorded in Australia) and has made records for Capitol (with the Fourth Way), MPS, Improvising Artists (in a band called Almanac), Laurie, Enja, Timeless, Tomato and ECM.
---Scott Yanow, All Music Guide |
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