Mike Nock

New Zealand born pianist/composer Mike Nock is one of the acknowledged masters of jazz in Australasia. Read more about Mike >

About Hear and Know

Released in December 2011, Hear and Know is the latest recording from Mike Nock’s Mike Nock Trio Plus

Mike Nock, Sydney, November 2011

Ben, James and I have been making music together since we met at Sydney Conservatorium’s jazz studies program some ten years ago. A couple of years ago we began playing quartet gigs with Karl and in January this year we invited Ken to join us. With the trio touring Japan in mid September and Ken winning the James Morrison “Generations in Jazz Scholarship” in August we decided it was time to go into the studio. Its been a real pleasure making music with this awesomely talented group of young musicians and I hope you’ll get a sense of that while listening to the album …

Hear and Know !

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John McBeath in The Australian - Jan 7 2012

‘This  is  a  stellar  quintet  of  four  younger players led  by  a  grand  old master  whose  compositions  and  arrangements  here  are  like  a 21st-century  re-invention  of  the  legendary  works of  Gil  Evans  for  Miles  Davis’s  famous  quintet  of  1963 to 1965.’

5  stars

Phil Sandford on jazz-planet.com

‘…highlights Nock’s continuing development as a player and composer and the vibrancy and strength of some of the younger players on the Australian jazz scene.’ Read more >>>>

Purchase your copy here using PayPal >

Listen…

‘After Satie’ from the CD, featuring Gerard Anderson‘s photo slideshow of the recording session

Track listing

1. Hear and Know 7.54
2. The Sibylline Fragrance 7.22
3. Colours 5.22
4. After Satie 5.30
5. Komodo Dragon 7.40
6. If Truth Be Known 11.14
7. Slow News Day 8.51

Along  with  the  imminent  release  of   HEAR  &  KNOW  the  new  TRIO-PLUS  CD  in December,  two  long  out  of  print  FOURTH WAY  albums  are  scheduled  for   release  in  December  through   EMI  Japan – THE   FOURTH  WAY  and  WERWOLF. The  trio’s  first  release  on  FWM  records,  the  award  winning  AN  ACCUMULATION  OF  SUBTLETIES,   continues  to  attract  strong  reviews, the most  recent   being  from  the  Oct-Nov-Dec issue  of  CADENCE ( US  )

“An  Accumulation  of  Subtleties confirms  Nock’s  restless  creativity and command  of the  piano.”  Bill  Donaldson – Cadence.

The TRIO  was  in   Japan Sept  1 – 12  where  they  recorded  a  program  for  NHK  radio  to  be  broadcast  in Japan  Oct  9th, performed   two  concerts for TOKYO  JAZZ  (  one with guest  artist trumpeter Terumasa  Hino )  and  did  a  5  concert  tour  with  Sadao  Watanabe. Sept  25th  the TRIO    played  a  concert  in  Christchurch NZ  and  Sept 29th  were  in  the  studio,  recording as TRIO-PLUS with  Karl  Laskowski  tenor  and  Ken Allars  tpt,  for  their  upcoming  CD  on  FWM  records.

May   5th 2011   the  TRIO won  the  BELL  Award category  “BEST  AUSTRALIAN CONTEMPORARY  JAZZ  ALBUM” for   their  recent  CD  AN  ACCUMULATION  OF  SUBTLETIES.

The   same  weekend  the   newest  member of  the  NOCK TRIO  PLUS +, trumpeter  Ken Allars won  the  prestigious James  Morrison  GENERATIONS  IN  JAZZ   COMPETITION.

AWARDED  BEST  AUSTRALIAN  CONTEMPORARY  JAZZ  ALBUM at the  2011 BELL  AWARDS  ( May 5th, 2011 )

4 1/2  stars   THE  AUSTRALIAN June  19  2010

4 1/2  stars   SYDNEY  MORNING HERALD Sept  18  2010

4 1/2  stars  LIMELIGHT  MAGAZINE October  2010

Mike’s   recently  released   two CD set, showing different facets of   his  trio’s music,  one recorded live at The Sound Lounge, the other recorded in the Sydney Opera House studio, An  Accumulation  of  Subtleties, has  already attracted  wide  interest    beginning  with a   4 1/2 star review  in  the Weekend AUSTRALIAN ( June 19-20 )           “Apart from the  subtlety mentioned in the title, this double CD from Sydney pianist  Mike Nock’s  trio exhibits innovative exploration and far-reaching diversity …”  John McBeath.More information >

and   from  AllAboutJazz “Nock  returns  to  the  trio  format  for  one  of  his  most  open-ended  and  immediate  albums  of   joyous   abandon, introducing  a  new  line-up  thats  already  delivering  but  promises even  greater things  to  come.”

To  read  the  full  review  go  to
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=37167

and  from  Roger  Mitchell  in  ausjazz.net July  12/2010

“An  Accumulation of  creativity, spontaneity and  vibrancy,  this  double  CD is  the  deeply  satisfying  result of  a Sydney Opera  House  session  and  a weekend  live  at  Sydney’s  Sound  Lounge  both  recorded  in  2008.

With  no agenda  in  the  studio  ”except  to  allow  the  music  to  come  through”, Mike  Nock on  piano, Ben  Waples  on  double  bass  and  brother  James on  drums, coverse  with compelling  clarity and  understanding that  taps  the  source  of  great  art. Notes  in  Joyous  Awakening hang  suspended,  their  beauty  in  simplicity and  gentle  dissonance. The  fragmentary  Rite  of  Passage evokes  the  birth  of  music  as  if  from a  primeval  swamp.

The  live  pieces  are  equally  eclectic,  moving  from    the  evolving  patterns and  tempos  of  Elsewhen,  through  the  upbeat   Beautiful  Stranger to  the expansive,  lyrical  ballad  The  Wind.  Nock’s  A  Tree  Has  Its  Heart  In  Its  Roots is  a triumph  of  strength  and  fragility,  sustaining  depth  and  compelling intricacy.

Pianist MICHAEL HOUSTOUN’S new CD INLAND (Rattle Records NZ) featuring 12 of Mike’s solo piano compositions,  was  awarded  NEW ZEALAND CLASSICAL RECORDING OF THE YEAR  in  1999.

A  recent   release is the MIKE NOCK TRIO play the Compositions of Andrew Klippel 1980-1983 (AKP0001 dist by MGM)

Between or Beyond – The Mike Nock Underground – a classic recorded in 1970 at the legendary MPS Studio Villingen in Germany’s Black Forest with the FOURTH WAY rhythm section (Eddie Marshall drums, Ron McClure electric bass, Mike Nock piano and electric piano) has recently been released on CD for the first time. (Tower Records Japan)

The Nov 2005 issue of Downbeat reviewing the Melbourne/Umbria Festival wrote:

But the revelations were the Australians – in particular Paul Grabowsky and Mike Nock – Pianist Nock, a Sydney-based maestro, delivered two appealing sets at the Forum Theatre: one with his eclectic Big Small Band (a Hal Russell meets Carla Bley nonet) and the other with his equally unpredictable trio. Both groups exhibited strong arrangements, a mix of groove/dissonance and lyricism/avant-out, and a fair amount of humor and surprise inherent in the twists and turns. There’s a glint to Nock’s playing and a buoyancy in his leadership, especially with the nonet, which featured a fine young cast of improvisers.