Bern Nix Trio: "Alarms and Excursions" New World CD 80437-2
Bern Nix: Guitar ; Fred Hopkins: Acoustic Bass ; Newman Baker: Drums
rec. January 1993, NYC.
Bern Nix learnt to play harmolodic guitar in Ornette Coleman's Prime Time band from 1975 to 1987. Since leaving Prime Time, Nix has continued to pursue the harmolodic flame, where harmony, rhythm and melody assume equal roles, and has recently released his first album. On the surface "Alarms and Excursions" may appear to be a fairly straight-ahead date. But upon closer listening you begin to hear the deft twists and turns that take these excursions into free-er territory. Nix'x crystalline guitar dances deceptively intricate melodies around and through the open-ended rhythmic and harmonic approach of bassist Fred Hopkins and drummer Newman Baker. The one standard, "Just Friends", is not at all out of place among the eight Nix originals, many of which retain a ballad-like feel, but unfold down roads less travelled into areas that bring a creative presence to the session, lacking in so many of today's revisionist recordings. This is a very attractive combination of harmolodic and traditional methods. "I paint a moustache on the Mona Lisa", he says. Nix is an original and you'll find here enough subtle and witty lyricism to wet your appetite for more.
Contact: New World Records,701 Seventh Ave. New York, NY 10036, USA or try Birdland,
3 Barrack Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000
Reviewed by Matt Krieg
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Mike Nock Trio "Not We But One"
Naxos Jazz: 86006-2 Duration: 58'18" RRP $9.95
Although they are not of the same generation, these three musicians (Mike Nock piano, Anthony Cox bass, Tony Reedus drums) are alike: clean, precise, they give the impression of not having time to lose, of knowing where they are going and what they want to say. They are neither effusive nor gushing, there is nothing which is fulsome or dated. Sharp instruments cut a clean line through space and musical time. They do not grope but stroll serenely through long sure lines even when they interact, particularly in the pieces improvised by the three of them. Besides, the relative dryness which results is not sterile or boring, allowing that the comrades know how to maintain a real mutual listening which one discovers with pleasure. But my nature, incorrigibly romantic, carries me, nonetheless, towards some ballads, which have romantic names (Kiss, Your Smile). This music, that one would believe to be without illusion and without a point of reference, has a heart even so.
Translated from the French, by Philip Cook.
Original text Source :Yvan Amar ., "Not We But One",
in Dutilh A. and Colaiacovo M. (eds), Jazzman No 32 janvier 1998
Mike Nock: "Touch" Birdland BL001
Mike Nock: Piano rec. July 22, 1993, Sydney
Birdland's first release is an auspicious occasion, a deeply felt commune between musician and piano, where Mike Nock's solo playing comes as a quiet revelation. "Touch" is a special moment in time. Nock plays as if in prayer to his muse, arriving at a state of consecration. He has found that deep place in the music from which to quietly but purposefully offer insights of great beauty and simplicity. From the opening moments of William Walton's "Touch Her Soft Lips And Part" a mood of serenity pervades, continuing through Nock's entire program of originals and standards. His touch is both assured and reassuring. The piano rings out and has been beautifully recorded across the whole range of the instrument. From the fragile melody of his own "Sweet Surrender" to the rousing and optimistic African anthem "Nikosa Sikelela Afrika" Mike Nock beckons you as a wise sage to a place that has stillness and peace at its heart. Without reservation, "Touch" is a very fine album and one that may even become one of those few trusted friends in your collection. Jimmy Giuffre's assertion that "soft jazz can retain the intensity it has at a louder volume and at the same time perhaps reveal some new dimensions of feeling that loudness obscures" certainly applies here. Mike Nock's piano is a deep well from which a rare strata arrives to touch earth.
Contact: Birdland, 3 Barrack Street, Sydney, NSW, 2000
Reviewed by Matt Krieg
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