Reptor Productions 2008 - UK based unsigned online band promoters - Doug Strock

Doug Strock - Piano Dreams		Visit website
Formed		Email this band
Genre Jazz		Bookmark page
Country Usa		Email a friend
Album: Piano Dreams
Joined Reptor Productions 624 days ago.
1. My Funny Valentine	BUY NOW!	play
2. Blues for Ceila Z	BUY NOW!	play
3.	BUY NOW!	play

Doug Strock was raised in Boston and Martha's Vineyard; degrees in Russian from Columbia and Yale; liaison for Fortune 200 CEO's in Russian trade; private student of John Mehegan, Juilliard's first improvisation teacher; an early performance at Leonard Bernstein's home.

Doug Strock was raised in Boston and Martha's Vineyard. He holds degrees from Columbia and Yale where he majored in Russian. His fluency in Russian led to a position with the US-USSR Trade and Economic Council where he was liaison for fortune 200 CEO's and corresponding Russian ministers. During these years, Strock continued a life-long study of jazz piano, including private lessons with John Mehegan, the first teacher of improvisation at Juilliard. And promisingly, an early Strock performance was at a small birthday gathering for Leonard Bernstein.

Gradually realizing the personal importance of his music, Strock decided to devote himself full-time to piano. His new existence involved separation from friends and a hardship-cleansing which allowed the birth of a special piano sound. This sensual, fragile yet unsyrupy music consists of beloved melodies and original compositions played with a freshness which beckons for repeat-listening.

Strock has created fresh new versions of the most unforgettable songs by Rogers and Hart, Gershwin, Keith Jarrett, Duke Ellington, Billy Preston and Thad Jones. Like many jazz musicians, Strock starts with the assumption that you know the melodies. He delights us with surprising variations on these familiar tunes. This pianist then goes one step further and assumes you know the rhythm and phrasing too.

Dissecting the melody, he digs in, holding each chord up for inspection, twisting and shaping and then holding on, letting the chords breathe and stretch, and allowing the piano to respond. Perhaps even better than Strocks treatment of beloved standards, are his goosebump-producing originals. He has taken to heart the old adage that music is as much about the silence as the sound, as much about the notes that are not played as those that are. The unexpected pauses and harmony will keep you coming back.