Mike Nock
b. 27 September 1940, Christchurch, New Zealand. Nock is largely a self-taught pianist who was able to work professionally when he was only 15 years old. When he was 18 he went to Australia playing in a hard bop trio before moving on to England. He did not settle but went to the Berklee College Of Musicin Boston, Massachusetts on a scholarship in 1961. In the early '60s he was the house pianist in a Boston Club before joining Yusef Lateef for three years. In 1968 he moved to San Francisco and formed the jazz-rock group, Fourth Way, which was extremely successful until disbanding in 1971. Nock became involved in electronic music and composed numerous film scores. In 1985 he returned to Australia where he spent most of his time composing, though he also taught improvisation at the New South Wales Conservatorium in Sydney.