Mike Nock Trio: An Accumulation of Subtleties - CD

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“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. The title track opens with a minimalist, classical-style piano in a gentle, out-of-tempo theme, soon taken up by Ben Waples’s double bass, with effects gradually added by James Waples’s brush work. Intensity builds towards the final chorus with the piano marching grandly to a stately conclusion of solitary high treble chords. The other four tracks on disc one, all originals, display a similar approach, tempo-less at times, texturally expressive, and all with Nock’s instinctive compositional flair. Three of the six tracks on disc two are by other composers and two of those, House of Blue Lights and The Gypsy feature the strongest grooves of the collection although Nock’s Beautiful Stranger employs a soft bossa beat and some exuberant piano and bass solo work. The Gypsy opens in strong rhythmic mode and drives into a rousing piano solo, a fast-running skilful bass sequence and forceful four-bar exchanges between piano and drums. Throughout the album’s performance, recorded live in 2008, there are two standouts: first, Nock’s consummate, artful playing across a miscellany of moods; then the impressive way the trio integrates organically into a seamless yet discursive ensemble.”

John McBeath, The Weekend AUSTRALIAN, June 19-20, 2010.