FREE ESSAY ON FROCK ROCK

FROCK ROCK

FROCK
ROCK is a Melbourne-based jazz ensemble focusing on original compositions and
improvisation.
The group promotes a high standard of performance and professionalism gained through the
years of experience and learning of its individual members. All of its members have
studied music and improvisation at the prestigious Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).
Two of the members in FROCK have returned to lecture there, while the remaining members
are educators at tertiary and secondary school level around the state of Victoria. The
VCA brings together the finest musicians in Australia, both as teachers and students, and
is representitive of the ethnic culture in Australia. 
It is from this cross-cultural melting pot that the ensemble has been born. Drawing on a
wide range of influences, and using a typical jazz instrumentation, the group creates a
sound that combines styles in the jazz music of the new and the old and sets a trend for
the future. Traditional acoustic instruments meet their modern electric counterparts,
classical European folk forms get a modern jazz treatment, A unique sound experience.
Band Members
Craig Beard 
Vibraphone, Marimba Tuned and untuned percussion
Craig has been a performer and educator for fifteen years. He studied with Dave Samuels
and has recorded for the ABC with Doug de Vries and Edward York. Craig teaches at the VCA
and aT Box Hill TAFE. He performs regularly as a sideman with people such as Joe
Camillieri and the New Guinea Bharatam Dance Troupe. Craig writes a column for the
national magazine DRUMSCENE.
Anthony Schulz
Piano Accordian and piano
For the past thirteen years Anthony has performed as an accordianist and pianist
throughout Australia. He has worked in all genres from folk to funk and back to jazz.
Anthony teaches at the VCA and is a full-time lecturer at Box Hill TAFE.
Adam Starr
Guitar and vocals
Adam studied improvisation at the VCA, graduating with Anthony in 1995. A prolific
composer, he plays in many different groups for which his music is the centrepiece. Adam
is the MD of pop band BURST, top covers band JACOBS DREAM, and is active in soundtrack
and television composition. He teaches contemporary and classical guitar.
Simon Starr
Acoustic Bass
Since completing his studies at the VCA in 1993, Simon has worked constantly as a
freelance musician and in ensembles of his owns, which feature his compositions. He
augmented his studies in New York, learning from Dave Holland, which has held him in good
stead for his gigs with such jazz identities as James Morrison, renowned American jazz
educator Mark Levine, Barney McAll and Tony Gould.
One of the rising stars of the Australian music scene. Dave is in high demand as a
first-call session player, theatre pit musician and jazz ensemble member. Dave is the
youngest drummer to have an international endorsement with Premier drums and Zildjian
cymbals (USA) and plays their equipment on 'In Melbourne Tonight' (channel 9), and with
stars such as Randy Crawford, Venetta Fields, Alan Zavod, Kerrie Biddel, Christine
Sullivan, Jane Rutter and the MSO, Don Burrows and Tony Gould.