Napier, Nancy J

Wilson is a vexing artist to summarize with a best-of compilation, due both to her versatility and her prolific discography. This two-set CD concentrates on her pop- and R&B-influenced recordings for Capitol in the 1960s and '70s. While that means that her jazziest and most standard-inclined sides are relatively lightly represented (although not ignored), it does mean that this is the material most likely to be familiar to the general audience. In truth the soul influence is quite light; this is really pop material, not R&B, soul, or rock, even as it might show some traces of those genres (as well as jazz and cabaret). As a whole, this easy-listening soul music was light fare, but Wilson was probably better at it (and certainly more successful at it) than anyone else…

This selection of chamber music by leading Portuguese composer Pedro Faria Gomes was written between 2007 and 2018. The works encompass themes of memory, change and waiting, with the concept of time being a central preoccupation. Though he has drawn on music from his country’s folk traditions – in Memória and in the Sonata – it is always with new harmonic insights and subtlety, creating undeniably invigorating additions to contemporary chamber music repertoire.

The Mass in B Minor, hailed in 1818 as the “greatest musical composition of all times and all cultures” by its first publisher, Hans-Georg Nägeli of Zurich, is today revered as one of the greatest works in the history of classical music. Not only has the composition substantially shaped the contemporary relevance of Johann Sebastian Bach, but it also underpins his standing as a pre-eminent artist of universal appeal.

J.J. Light is better known as Jim Stallings, sometime bassist with the Sir Douglas Quintet. In the summer of 1969, "Heya" - a hypnotic song with a distinctive Native American flavor - took much of Europe by storm, reaching audiences as far afield as Japan, South America and New Zealand. Yet, despite being the work of an American living in Los Angeles and signed to a major U.S. label, neither the 45 nor its attendant album would ever be released in America. They make their long-awaited CD debut here, complete with copious bonus tracks including foreign B-sides and his long-lost, never-released second LP, also from 1969. Featuring contributions from members of The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, The Electric Prunes, Derek & The Dominos and Love, and assembled with Stallings' close involvement, the package comes complete with detailed liner notes and many rare photos.