Career of jazz giant rewarded with gong Pianist and composer Mike Nock. MIKE Nock has been recognised for his long and influential career in jazz, with the Australia Council naming him this year's recipient of the Don Banks Award. The Sydney pianist and composer is the third jazz artist to win the Don Banks Award after Melbourne drummer Allan Browne in 2000 and the late saxophonist Bernie McGann in 1998. Named after the composer and first chairman of the Australia Council's music board, the award is given each year to an artist who has made an "outstanding and sustained contribution to music in Australia." Last year's award went to Kev Carmody, while other recipients include Richard Mills, Carl Vine and Peter Sculthorpe. Nock was also inducted into the Graeme Bell Awards Hall of Fame in 2009. Australia Council chief executive Tony Grybowski acknowledged Nock's influence on generations of musicians. As a respected and influential artistic leader, it is fitting that the council recognises his significant contribution to Australian music with this award. Nock was a teenager when he moved from New Zealand to Australia in the late 1950s. He spent 25 years in the US, performing with some of the biggest names in jazz and founding the fusion quartet Fourth Way, before returning to Australia in the mid-1980s. He can be heard in more than 100 recordings, and has toured widely. In recent years, as well as his work as a teacher, he has been admired for the way he has nurtured younger musicians in multiple performances and recordings. The Australia Council will pay tribute to Nock before he takes the stage on February 1 at the Seymour Centre in Sydney with a special line-up that includes Phil Slater and James Greening.