Mike Nock’s 70th birthday bash in Wellington

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 4 September 2010

Mike Nock’s 70th birthday bash in Wellington

Come celebrate legendary New Zealand jazz composer and musician Mike Nock’s 70th birthday with a concert by the man himself in Wellington.

The concert on Friday 1 October in the Ilott Theatre will feature Nock performing solo and with the Mike Nock Trio and the New Zealand String Quartet. It will blend the best of jazz and chamber music and appeal to lovers of fine music across genres.

As well as being Nock’s 70th birthday, it is 50 years since his recording debut—Move with the 3-out Trio. Since then, he has made thousands of appearances, written hundreds of compositions and released more than 20 albums.

The concert is timed to coincide with the release of Serious Fun, a biography of Mike Nock written by jazz pianist and New Zealand School of Music lecturer Norman Meehan, and published by Victoria University Press.

Mr Meehan says that Nock, a patron of the New Zealand School of Music, has long been one of the top modern jazz keyboardists to emerge from this part of the world.
He’s worked with legends such as Coleman Hawkins, Pee Wee Russell, Sam Rivers and Yusef Lateef. For a boy who began his professional career as a high school student in Nelson, he’s had an absolute ball.”

Nock’s first public performance was in 1952 at the Ngaruawahia Town Hall, and from there he has played many of the world’s major stages—Carnegie Hall with Sam Rivers, concert venues in Europe opposite McCoy Tyner, and supporting Sonny Rollins at the Sydney Opera House.

“He even played the Paradiso in Amsterdam the night after Pink Floyd; legend has it his show there with The Fourth Way sold out just as quickly,” says Mr Meehan.

“Serious Fun aims to tell the often hilarious story of Nock’s journey. When I suggested to Mike a few year’s ago that he had lived his dream, he said ‘Yeah’, then added, ‘The thing; make sure you have good dreams’.”
 

Mike Nock: 50 Years of Music

Featuring The Mike Nock Trio, with the NZ String Quartet

Friday 1 October, 7.30pm

Ilott Theatre, Wellington Town Hall

Tickets from Ticketek, $40

 
During the week of the concert, Nock will be the featured composer on Radio New Zealand’s Concert programme.

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