Nova

Balancing mainstream adult pop, grittier rock, and the poetic influence of childhood idols Patti Smith and Kate Bush, Bermuda native Heather Nova charted in the U.K. and the U.S. with her first worldwide release, 1994's Oyster.

This album ranges widely over Scottish composer Sir James MacMillan’s substantial output of sacred music and gathers together a few pieces that haven’t made it into the studio, such as the lovely St Anne’s Mass. Many of the pieces have personal significance, including works written for the weddings of family members and a Requiem Mass for his father. The largest here, The Culham Motets—written for the consecration of a chapel—is ambitious music, full of colour, and MacMillan strikes the perfect note. The smaller works are beautifully done and Cappella Nova’s singing, captured gloriously by producer/engineer Philip Hobbs, is breathtaking.

Zoot Sims - New Beat Bossa Nova, Vol. 1 & 2 (1962) {Colpix Japan Mini LP TOCJ-9604 rel 2004}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 423 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 148 Mb
Full Artwork @ 600 dpi (jpg) -> 88 Mb | 5% repair rar
© 1962, 2004 Colpix Records / Toshiba-EMI | TOCJ-9604 | Mini LP | 24bit remastering
Jazz / Latin Jazz / Bossa Nova / Cool / Saxophone

24bit digitally remastered reissue. Comes housed in a cardboard sleeve. This release compiles two wonderful LPs presenting Zoot Sims playing bossa nova songs, as well as jazz standards in a bossa nova mood arranged by Manny Albam and Al Cohn: New Beat Bossa Nova (Colpix SCP435), and its sequel, New Beat Bossa Nova Vol. 2 (Colpix SCP437). Recorded in 1962, these were among the first albums to combine bossa nova and jazz. Both LPs feature the outstanding guitarist Jim Hall as a soloist.

Samuel Scheidt's Tabulatura Nova, published in three parts in the early seventeenth century, is one of those checkpoints that music history students have to learn. It was a collection of keyboard music with mostly instructional intent, making up a compendium of North German polyphonic techniques. The Tabulatura Nova was an early example of the exhaustiveness of musical thinking that became one of Bach's key characteristics, and it pointed to Bach as well in its density and overall conservatism. This double disc, covering the second of the Tabulatura Nova's three volumes, includes early fugues, fantasias, dances, an impressive toccata, and pieces intended for sacred use, including several based on chorales.

This excellent collection released by Rare Groove label is a blinding batch of rare bossa and samba tracks, mostly all of 60s vintage, from a blend of American and Brazilian sources. There's loads of great cuts on here that have gotten lost on LPs over the years – and titles include "Groovy Samba" by Cannonball Adderley, "Bossa Nova Ova" by Billy Mitchell Quintet, "Sambou Sambou" by The G/9 Group, "Os Grilos" by Walter Wanderley, "Onde Anda O Meu Amor" by Bossa Tres, "Vai Pr'a Frente" by Os Copa Vips, "Caminho De Casa" by Joao Donato, "Oo Oo Bossa Nova" by Milt Jackson, "Boranda" by Sergio Mendes, "Mas Que Nada" by Oscar Peterson, and "Batucada Sergiu" by Luiz Carlos Vinhas. The Vol. 4 also contains the bonus tracks "Bossa" by Donald Byrd, "Corcovado" by Stan Getz and Laurindo Almeida, and "Sausalito" by Dave Pike. Dusty Groove America

The sweetness of Heather Nova consumed the indie rock market throughout the 1990s, and into the new millennium she was a rising star across the globe. Born to a Canadian mother and a father from Bermuda, Heather Frith used singing and music as a means of entertainment during her childhood. She was born in her father's native land on July 6, 1967, and spent the next 16 years of her life aboard a 40-foot boat with her parents, brother, and sister. Her imagination was tested and music was her calling. She incessantly listened to taped records from her mother, later crafting her own songs by age eight.