...However, there were ideas and approaches from rock that Nock did find inspiring, and within a year of relocating to the West Coast, Nock and violinist Michael White left John Handy’s group to form a new band using some of those musical approaches. That group, The Fourth Way, included drummer Eddie Marshal and bassist Ron McClure, and although relatively short-lived has been celebrated as one of the first fusion groups, mixing jazz with rock music and playing amplified instruments. They recorded for the rock division of Capitol Records – the Harvest label – and released three albums to critical acclaim...
...A high point was performing as the opening act for Miles Davis’s group. The Fourth Way was on fire that night and Davis found himself upstaged by the young San Francisco group. Miles reportedly said, “Man, I’m never going on second again.”
Nock returned to New York in the mid 1970s to reacquaint himself with the scene and once there he frequently performed and recorded as a leader. From this period his recordings include Magic Mansions (with Charlie Mariano), In, Out and Around (with Michael Brecker), Climbing (with John Abercrombie and Tom Harrell), Succubus with Alex Foster and two solo albums Piano Solos and Mike Nock Solo (recorded in Australia). A high-water mark from this period is his trio record Ondas. Including bassist Eddie Gomez and drummer Jon Christensen and recorded in just two hours, the album was released by the ECM record label. It is a beautiful record, with a pristine sound and austere performances. Nock has said, “I am amazed at just how good it is.”
Returning to Australia in the mid-1980s, Nock settled in Sydney where he began teaching at the Sydney Conservatorium. Since his return he has balanced a teaching career with composing, regular touring, plenty of recording and a stint as artistic director for the Naxos Jazz label. His recordings with The New York Jazz Collective reveal that life in the Antipodes has done nothing to dull his edge, and his albums with young New Zealand and Australian musicians contain some of his finest writing. Highlights include the quintet album Ozboppin’, his large group recording Meeting of the Waters, and his recent spate of recordings on his own label Fourth Way Music (FWM).
Compositionally the last 30 years have been very rich and include many compositions for jazz groups, as well as writing for big band and a variety of chamber group pieces. ‘Transformations’, for string quartet and jazz band, and ‘Sketches’ for jazz quintet and chamber orchestra (both recorded and released by Ode) are indicative of his work in this space. He has also written a great deal of fully notated music for solo piano, compositions that have been recorded by Australian virtuosi Michael Kieran Harvey and Simon Tedeschi, plus New Zealander Michael Houstoun.
Nock lives in Sydney with his wife Yuri and continues to teach, write and perform. Teaching has become very important to him, and as a seasoned jazz musician who proved himself in the turbulent US scene, he has found there is much to offer aspiring young jazz musicians in Australasia. He takes this role very seriously, both in the classroom and by hiring young players for his groups.
“That has been one of the great joys to me of being in Sydney; that I have been able to take on this role. It’s been wonderful, like a thousand flowers blooming. In the last twenty years I’ve seen some amazing music being made, and it’s really quite staggering some of the talent that has emerged there.” - Norman Meehan & audioculture
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01 Touch Her Soft Lips and Part 02 The Sibylline Fragrance of Gardenias 03 Django 04 Unbridled Waltz 05 Sweet Surrender 06 Variations on Pachelbel's Canon 07 Lament 08 Somebody Loves Me 09 Interlude 10 Strata 11 Her 12 Nikosa Sikelela Afrika
…served by Gaius…
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