Brian Krock

Last updated
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
Website www.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.

Contents

Early life and education

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

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 And if you’re looking for musical-historical references, there are plenty — from progressive metal to Carnatic music to late-20th-century Western classical.”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 BHM Photo by Desmond White.jpg
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

YearAward
2020ISJAC Relief Commission [20]
2019Best 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]
2018Aaron Copland Recording Grant [25]
2012-13EtM Con Ed Composer Residency [26]
2011Manhattan Prize in Composition
ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award [27]

Discography

As a leader

YearTitleArtistLabel
2020VisceraBrian Krock's liddletoof music
Live at The Jazz GalleryBig Heart Machinetoof music
2019liddleBrian KrockOutside In
2018Big Heart MachineBig Heart MachineOutside In

As a co-leader

YearTitleArtistLabel
2014Bright!Life Sizeself-released
2007FishwimLorna Sueself-released

As a sideman, composer, or producer

YearTitleArtistRole
2022Two Takes Vol. 2Jared Schonigarranger
2021BombardmentSound Strugglesaxophonist
2021PerihelionSungazerbass clarinet
2020TruthSeth Weaver Big Bandproducer
2019Outside in Music (Live at Pinch Recording), Vol. 3Various Artistssaxophonist, composer
2011FreeplayUniversity of Illinois Concert Jazz Bandsaxophonist, composer

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References

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  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.
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  6. 1 2 "Credits". www.ibdb.com/. Internet Broadway Database.
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  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.
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