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Brian Krock

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Brian Krock
Born (1989-02-10) February 10, 1989 (age 35)
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
GenresJazz, big band, experimental, new music
OccupationsComposer, arranger, musician
InstrumentsAlto saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, flute, alto flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, piano, guitar, recorders
Websitewww.briankrock.com

Brian Krock is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and bandleader based in New York City. Krock leads the ensembles Big Heart Machine and liddle.[1] He is also active in Broadway theatre, performing in orchestras on a multitude of woodwinds.

Early life and education

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Krock was born in Milwaukee. From 2007 to 2011, he attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, majoring in jazz studies with a business minor. He studied jazz saxophone with Chip McNeill, who fostered his interest in composition and arranging.[2] In 2011, the University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band recorded Freeplay on which Krock received an ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award for his composition “Yes, It's True.”[3]

In 2011, Krock moved to New York City to obtain his Master's in Music from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied composition with Jim McNeely.[4] While attending MSM his composition "String Quartet No. 1" received the Manhattan Prize. He co-founded the band Life Size, who released the studio album Bright Size Life.[5]

Career

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From 2013 to 2015, Krock toured internationally with Broadway shows while composing the book of music that would constitute his big band album Big Heart Machine.[6] He attended the Metropole Orkest Arrangers Workshop, studying with Vince Mendoza, in 2013.[7]

In 2018, Krock released Big Heart Machine (Outside In Music), the self-titled debut album of his big band Big Heart Machine, to critical acclaim. In the New York Times, Giovanni Russonello said, “The suspenseful, layered music can sound like migration in motion or a wisp of twisting smoke. And if you’re looking for musical-historical references, there are plenty — from progressive metal to Carnatic music to late-20th-century Western classical.”[8] Jazz critics Nate Chinen and Giovanni Russonello profiled Big Heart Machine in articles focusing on a resurgence in big band music.”[9] The album was featured on the Best Jazz on Bandcamp.[10] Krock was also profiled in Downbeat Magazine,[11] Stereogum,[12] and the Chicago Reader.[13]

BHM Photo by Desmond White

In 2019, Big Heart Machine’s performance at NYC Winter Jazz Fest prompted good reviews in The Atlantic[14] and the New York Times. Shortly thereafter, Krock toured for seven weeks with Ethan Iverson and The Mark Morris Dance Group, playing clarinet and soprano saxophone in Pepperland.[15]

His 2019 follow-up recording liddle featured Big Heart Machine alumni along with pianist Matt Mitchell and bass guitarist Simon Jermyn. The album was a Downbeat Editor’s Pick[16] and one of All Music’s Best Jazz Albums of 2019.[17] The band liddle toured the U.S. culminating in a live recording at Firehouse 12 in New Haven, CT.

In 2020, the coronavirus pandemic halted performances so Krock created a YouTube channel called Score Study, devoted to his favorite composers.[18] The series quickly grew in popularity, allowing him to feature guest artists like Steve Swallow, Ethan Iverson, Pino Palladino, Blake Mills, and Adam Guettel. Krock also self-released two live recordings in 2020, Big Heart Machine’s Live at The Jazz Gallery,[19] and liddle’s Viscera. Krock attended the Bang on a Can Summer Workshop in 2020, receiving a commission to write a new piece of chamber music. He wrote a piece for bass clarinet, flute, and ensemble called “anti-jazz,” dedicated to and culling musical materials from Eric Dolphy.

From 2021 to 2022, Krock toured the U.S. as the onstage clarinetist with the Tony Award-winning musical The Band's Visit.[6]

Awards and honors

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Year Award
2020 ISJAC Relief Commission[20]
2019 Best Jazz Albums of 2019 (All Music)[21]
Best Newcomer Musician (El Intruso)[22]
Best New Artist (Jazz Times Critics Poll)[23]
Keio Light Music Society Commission
ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award[24]
2018 Aaron Copland Recording Grant[25]
2012-13 EtM Con Ed Composer Residency[26]
2011 Manhattan Prize in Composition
ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award[27]

Discography

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As a leader

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Year Title Artist Label
2020 Viscera Brian Krock's liddle toof music
Live at The Jazz Gallery Big Heart Machine toof music
2019 liddle Brian Krock Outside In
2018 Big Heart Machine Big Heart Machine Outside In

As a co-leader

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Year Title Artist Label
2014 Bright! Life Size self-released
2007 Fishwim Lorna Sue self-released

As a sideman, composer, or producer

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Year Title Artist Role
2022 Two Takes Vol. 2 Jared Schonig arranger
2021 Bombardment Sound Struggle saxophonist
2021 Perihelion Sungazer bass clarinet
2020 Truth Seth Weaver Big Band producer
2019 Outside in Music (Live at Pinch Recording), Vol. 3 Various Artists saxophonist, composer
2011 Freeplay University of Illinois Concert Jazz Band saxophonist, composer

References

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  1. ^ West, Michael J. (22 May 2019). "Brian Krock: The Cardiac Kid". JazzTimes.
  2. ^ Rhodes, Dusty. "Concert jazz band's new CD is all-student effort of writing, arranging". newsillinois.edu. Illinois News Bureau. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  3. ^ "ASCAP ANNOUNCES 31 RECIPIENTS OF THE 2011 YOUNG JAZZ COMPOSER AWARDS". nmbx.newmusicusa.org. New Music Box. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
  4. ^ Sidran, Leo. "175: Brian Krock". third-story.com. The Third Story. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  5. ^ Johnston, David (10 January 2014). "CD Release Party for Brian Krock's Band "Life Size" – January 20, 2014". Exploring the Metropolis, Inc. Retrieved 10 January 2014.
  6. ^ a b "Credits". www.ibdb.com/. Internet Broadway Database.
  7. ^ "MEET THE ARRANGERS WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS". www.mo.nl. Metropole Orkest. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 5 February 2015.
  8. ^ Russenello, Giovanni (9 August 2018). "13 Pop, Rock and Jazz Concerts to Check Out in N.Y.C. This Weekend". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 August 2018.
  9. ^ Russenello, Giovanni (31 December 2018). "'They're Doing It Out of Love': The Big Band Rises Again". The New York Times. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  10. ^ Sumner, Dave. "The Best Jazz on Bandcamp: August 2018". Bandcamp. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
  11. ^ Oullette, Dan (30 August 2018). "Brian Krock's Big Heart Machine Rumbles to Life". Downbeat Magazine. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  12. ^ Freeman, Phil (24 August 2018). "Ugly Beauty: The Month In Jazz – August 2018". www.stereogum.com. Stereogum. Retrieved 24 August 2018.
  13. ^ Margasak, Peter. "Arlington Heights native and saxophonist Brian Krock leads a Chicago-based lineup of his big band Big Heart Machine". The Chicago Reader. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  14. ^ Graham, David A. (19 January 2019). "What Jazz in 2019 Will Sound Like". The Atlantic.
  15. ^ Selby, Anna. "Pepperland". www.arbuturian.com. The Arbuturian. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  16. ^ Cantor, Dave (May 2019). "Reviews". Downbeat Magazine.
  17. ^ Collar, Matt. "Liddle Review by Matt Collar". www.allmusic.com. All Music.
  18. ^ Krock, Brian. "Score Study". www.youtube.com. YouTube. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  19. ^ Chinen, Nate. "Big Heart Machine, "Pareidoliac"". WBGO. Retrieved 11 May 2020.
  20. ^ "COVID-19 RELIEF COMMISSION GRANTS". isjac.org. International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers.
  21. ^ Coller, Matt. "ALLMUSIC 2019 YEAR IN REVIEW". allmusic.com. All Music.
  22. ^ "12th Annual Critics Poll". www.elintruso.com. El Intruso. 6 January 2020.
  23. ^ "2019 Expanded Critics' Poll Results". JazzTimes. 28 January 2020.
  24. ^ Nevins, Cathy. "The ASCAP Foundation Announces 2019 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Award Recipients". ASCAP.com. ASCAP. Retrieved 11 March 2019.
  25. ^ "2018 Recording Program Application Awardees". coplandfund.org. The Aaron Copland Fund for Music.
  26. ^ Johnston, David (24 July 2013). "Announcing Our 2013-14 EtM Con Edison Composers-in-Residence". exploringthemetropolis.org. EtM. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  27. ^ "ASCAP ANNOUNCES 31 RECIPIENTS OF THE 2011 YOUNG JAZZ COMPOSER AWARDS". nmbx.newmusicusa.org. New Music Box. 14 February 2011. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
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