The New Zealand Music Hall of Fame just got a jazz infusion.

APRA AMCOS Aotearoa has revealed that the latest addition to the hallowed hall is jazz performer and composer Mike Nock- set to be inducted at October’s 2024 APRA Silver Scroll Awards at St James Theatre, Wellington.

His career spans generations - self-built on talent, desire and a cheeky determination which made for an unstoppable combination. Nock has built a list of accomplishments that can’t be denied -  more than 40 Albums (over 100 if you count those he’s featured on), Best Jazz Album at the NZ Music Awards, an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to jazz in 2003, a member of the Australian Jazz Hall of Fame and winner of the Don Banks Music Award in Australia.

A true globe trotter - but done the hard way, like stowing away on a boat to Sydney to chase his dream - Nock hasn’t let anything get in his way.

His passion for jazz - and life - hasn’t waned even remotely - as shown in his acceptance video.

This is a culmination of a lot of things - thank you for this wonderful honour," Nock remarks.

"People have often said there's a certain New Zealand-ness in my music," he continues. "the physical country - the river, the waters, the mountains..all this stuff is very deep inside me."

"For me, jazz is an attitude, an attitude towards life," Nock enthuses. "It's all about the pursuit of truth, what's real. We need this in today's world - more than ever.

"This immediate, emotional connection that transcends the music on the page." 

While most are putting their feet up at 84, Nock is far from done. His most recent album, Hearing, was released last year, he’s been contributing to a documentary and has a calendar filled with upcoming live performances.

APRA AMCOS NZ Chief Executive Anthony Healey tributes “Mike’s achievements, which very much continue today, are that of a much-celebrated performer, collaborator, musician, pianist, composer and educator. His talents are many and varied and the unifying strand that runs through them all is the single-minded dedication he has made to his craft.

“Mike has been an inspiration. He has shown people that creativity, and in particular music, is a universal language. He's taken that message from here to around the world, leading the way for New Zealand artists everywhere, encouraging and empowering them to do the same.

“To his fellow musicians here in Aotearoa, Mike shows enduring generosity and support. He leads by example as an artist, with a call to arms that is enduringly passionate. We can’t think of a better person to celebrate and honour as an example of what has made our musical landscape what it is, and an example of what we can all aspire to.”

Hard Nock’s life

Nock’s career is so outrageous that it would be right at home on the big screen. From humble beginnings in Christchurch to playing alongside musical icons like Dionne Warwick in the States - it’s been a hell of a story so far.

Nock moved around the country in his youth, including Ngāruawāhia, Nelson, Wellington and Auckland - but his musical journey started at 11 when he took up the piano, taught by his father originally.

As he continued on his path, he found his true passion - other musicians to play with, which in the early days included the Palmerston North-based Fabulous Flamingos (promoted by fellow Hall of Famer Johhny Cooper), then the likes of rock n’ roll singer Johnny Devlin (another Hall of Famer), drummers Tony Hopkins and Lachie Jamieson, and trumpeter Kim Paterson.

But Nock yearned to test himself overseas - so as an 18-year-old, he stowed away to Sydney and soon infiltrated the Aussie music scene, forming one of the late ‘50s most popular jazz bands The 3-Out Trio with bassist Freddie Logan and drummer Chris Karan.

The trio went international when Nock discovered he’d won a scholarship from Down Beat magazine to Boston’s internationally recognised bastion of music - the famed Berklee College of Music. Nock and his Aussie bandmates toured England and Europe for several months before the New Zealander hit the books at Berklee.

Needing money to survive in a country where he had few connections and support, Nock was soon doing what came most natural - hustling for gigs while studying, and quickly embedding himself in the local jazz scene. Among his many collaborators at that time was legendary jazzman Yusef Lateed - becoming an integral member of his band in the early ‘60s which has a reputation for its remarkable post-bop improvisational jazz.

It was a huge boost to Nock’s standing in the States and would see him go on to form his own groups, including when he relocated to the West Coast and formed celebrated fusion jazz pioneers The Fourth Way, an American jazz quartet where Nock composed most of their music in a three-album acclaimed run.

Part of Nock’s legend is the tale of the 1970 Montreux Jazz Festival - where The Fourth Way was the opening act for the iconic Miles Davis. So good was their performance, that Davis reportedly mused, “Man, I’m never going on second again.”

The Fourth Way’s impact has been enduring - with many of Nock’s breakbeats and flourishes later appearing in the ‘90s and ‘00s work of many successful DJ sets.

A decade in New York followed for this jazz journeyman, putting out a number of albums before moving back to Australia in the mid-80s, with a successful teaching career at the Sydney Conservatorium accompanying multiple more releases with The New York Jazz Collective, along with young Australian and Aotearoa musicians.

There will be a section of the creative community that remembers him as an on-screen personality, with his TVNZ series, Nock On Jazz.

With 70 years of composing, creating, recording, performing, touring, teaching and inspiring generations across multiple continents, Nock has earned his way into the Hall of Fame along with many of his contemporaries and the top echelon of New Zealand music.