Mike Nock

One of our most consistent supporters.  A man who is always in the zone.

One set, solo piano.  Followed by a break for hanging out and drinking tea and wine (it's our third last concert after all).

And then, for one last time,

Free For All : an experience that will change the way you think about art.

Free For All is an improvisation movement we developed over a few years last decade.  It goes like this:

Everybody is welcome to perform.  Perceived musical ability is not a factor.  If you wish to perform, place your name (or a false name, if you wish to remain anonymous, which we usually do) into the Chalice Of Love.  An acolyte of the Chalice will draw names (duets, quartets, nonets?), and they will become an ensemble.  Without discussion, those people will begin to play, and they will continue until the music has finished.  And another ensemble will be drawn.

The only rule is that you can't play anything you've ever played before.  You can interpret that rule any way you want.

Free For All can be profound, hilarious, life-changing, horrible, beautiful, surprising, shocking, and fun.  Usually not all in the one piece, but very likely all in the one night.  Instruments will be invented, friends will be made, bands will be formed and broken up in the space of minutes.

Four decades and a world apart, Mike Nock and Laurence Pike have come together to forge a musical union like no other. 

Their individual talents are well established: Nock, at 75, a legend of Australian jazz, a pianist recognised worldwide for his work with the best of the genre. And Pike, 36, an iconoclastic drummer whose genre-bending projects include the pioneering electronic rock group PVT, as well as key roles in the music of Jack Ladder and Sarah Blasko. 

On stage, too, they could hardly have been more of a contrast: the diminutive veteran hunched over the piano like a sorcerer while the other a jumble of energy and physicality at six foot four. But close your eyes and the empathy is obvious. Together, Mike Nock and Laurence Pike embrace their differences. On stage and in the studio, they share a belief in the power of storytelling through improvisation. This new album, Beginning And End Of Knowing, marks a significant milestone in the journey of these two remarkable musicians. 

They travelled to Oslo to record with renowned engineer Jan Erik Kongshaug, the founder of Rainbow Studio and the man responsible for the majority of the recorded output of the ECM label. The trip was made possible when Laurence received a Music Project Fellowship from the Australia Council. A fan of Kongshaug since his school days, Pike is a musician fascinated by the possibilities of sound, so Oslo beckoned strongly. It also happened to be the place where, back in 1981, Mike recorded his seminal album, Ondas, for ECM. 

So there they were at Sydney airport, preparing to board a flight to Europe, when Mike turned to Laurence and laughed. “You crazy mother-,” he said, “making us go all the way to Norway to make an album.” It was indeed an ambitious adventure, since they had no idea what they would be playing once they arrived. Their music, as always, would be entirely improvised. The recordings they brought home revealed two artists working as one. Several hours of music were reduced to 12 tracks that variously contained moments of quietude and vitality, soaring lyricism, vigour and beauty. 

These tracks were also a memento of this new environment, Oslo, the way a change of scene can shape the contours of improvisation. Every morning, for instance, Laurence braved the cold to jog along the Akerselva – and this was the river that lent its name to one of the songs. 

The music also contained their usual combination of electronics and acoustics, with Laurence using live electronics via his drums to add new layers to the sound. These subtle elements permeate the improvisations seamlessly, almost imperceptibly, and their presence makes the album a triumph of modern creative music. 

The title, Beginning and End Of Knowing, refers to a phrase that Laurence used when asked to describe what goes through his mind while playing. “It’s a balancing act of the conscious and unconscious, a willingness to accept you know nothing while still drawing from a deep well of experience,” he says. This was their second album together. Their 2012 release Kindred was described by John Kelman, from All About Jazz, in glowing terms: “Conceived as music-making without a safety net ... it’s clear that Nock and Pike — separated by nearly 40 years — don't need one.” 

Two of Australia's greatest jazz pianists.

Barney McAll has returned to Sydney for a year (after 17 years in New York) to take up the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Residency.  He will be working on a number of new composition projects including solo piano pieces for next year’s Kinetic Jazz Festival in Sydney which have been influenced by the gospel church music he has been playing in Queens, New York, and works for two pianos, homemade instruments, celeste and vibraphone with Eugene Ughetti and his mentor Mike Nock.

Mike Nock (who lived in the US for 25 years) is perennially re-working, re-inventing, and sharing and creating with each new generation of musicians. He won the Don Banks Award last year, and described himself as a "missionary for jazz".

There will be grand piano, various electronic keyboards, and a final duet between these two masters of improvisation.

Mike and Barney both have sections of their websites devoted to their solo work:

mikenock.com/solo-performance/

barneymcall.com/projects/solo-piano/ 

Mike and Laurenz are working towards a new recording this year.  They're going to give us a first look at some of the new tunes before they go to Melbourne Jazz Festival next month.

On the piano: a jazz legend, a man who has been at the coalface of Australian improvised music for decades. On the drums: his former student, and a recording artist for one of the world’s most prestigious electronic labels alongside the likes of Aphex Twin, Flying Lotus, Autechre and Grizzly Bear.

Two generations of Australian music come together in the music of Mike Nock and Laurenz Pike. It’s a musical conversation across the years, united by a commitment to storytelling through improvisation and the tradition of music as a spiritual, emotional, communicative art form.

Come and join these two distinct musicians celebrate the release of this special album in a debut live performance in the round, in the intimate and relaxed space of Glebe's Colbourne Ave.

A very exciting one-off performance which we have been hoping to confirm for months:

A Magical Mystery Group with Mike Nock and two unnamed guests ( both recently recorded duo CDs with Mike )

( Clues from Mike )....... Think the legendary Jazz Co-op - Think Monk Pies - Jazz Studies course 1973-76 .......

http://mikenock.com/

Sydney's piano master plays from his acclaimed 1994 album, Touch.

Four Thursdays in November, 2006 : Barney Wakeford curated this incredible series of solo pianists.

2 Nov:
Bill Risby | Barney Wakeford

9 Nov:
Matt McMahon | Peter Locke

16 Nov:
Free For All : Piano Orchestra

23 Nov:
Judy Bailey | Kevin Hunt

30 Nov:
Mike Nock | Kenny Powell