Mike Nock

Villingen, 29 June 1970. Mike Nock, the New Zealand pianist who had come up through Yusef Lateef's and Art Blakey's bands and was then leading the San Francisco fusion group the Fourth Way, records a session for MPS with the Fourth Way rhythm section, Ron McClure on bass and Eddie Marshall on drums, but without the violinist Michael White. Produced by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer and Joachim-Ernst Berendt, credited to the Mike Nock Underground.

The cover carries a quote from Bill Evans, from a Down Beat blindfold test, on Nock's piano playing. The Fourth Way had recorded Werwolf at Montreux earlier that month, and this is the same electric idea in a studio: Nock on acoustic and electric piano, the rhythm section from the band.

MPS's own description runs through the tracks: the title piece an uptempo experiment in sound and space, The Squire funk with a nod to Weather Report, Hobgoblin a swinging acoustic number, Outfall darker and alternating between the two pianos, Denim Dance a funky blues. A Discogs contributor describes free-jazz excursions with a little sonic treatment, not so far out as to fail as dinner music, and notes that for years it had no reissue. It was one of the last records with the old pink MPS label before the BASF distribution scheme took over.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's MPS series.