Below, more pictures. Click on a thumbnail image to zoom it larger.

If you came out to our recent show with Acme Jazz Company at Minnetonka High, thanks for your support. We sincerely hope you enjoyed the music. In the next battle, we hope to work in marshmallow bazookas in some way.

Then, on February 4th at 7:30pm: It’s Jazz 88’s/Big Band Scene’s awesome Battle of the Big Bands in which we’ll be taking on the Acme Jazz Company. The music to be featured comes from composers associated with both groups, including Doug Rasmussen, Bob Parsons, Lance Strickland, Paul Peterson, John Ahern, and Bob Byers.

• What: Battle of the Big Bands, Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra vs. Acme Jazz Company
• When: Thursday, February 4, 7:30pm
• Where: Minnetonka High School (18301 Highway 7)
• Admission: General:$10, Members of Jazz88:$8, Students:$5
• More info: 651-633-7178

This concert will be recorded for future broadcast on “Big Band Scene” on KBEM/Jazz 88. No jousting will take place.

Nova’s new recording, A Time of Reckoning, is now available on iTunes. This means that you can buy tracks from our CD “a la carte,” if you care to. As with other offerings in iTunes, the tracks are encoded in high-quality ACC format, ready to go on your iPod.

To find us on iTunes, you’ll need iTunes installed on your computer. (If you happen to use an iPhone or iPod Touch, you’ve already got iTunes, of course.)

Simply search for Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra at the iTunes store, or follow this link.

We’d like to let everyone know that our new CD, A Time of Reckoning is available for purchase at CD Baby, and we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention it makes a great Christmas or Feast of Stephen gift. (Or, a great gift in general, no matter what you are celebrating.)

A Time of Reckoning features 10 musical works by composers with a Minnesota connection, and 3 of the composers are currently members of the orchestra: John Ahern (A Tribute To Francy Boland, West 7th), Bob Byers (Copperhead), and Paul Peterson (Feets, Granicus, Grumblambasamba). Bassist/composer Greg Stinson contributed A Dream of Hungarian Lanterns. Trombonist/composer Steve Devich contributed North Star. The title track is by Dan Cavanagh, who currently teaches at the University of Texas, Arlington, in the Jazz Studies Department.

Below is a complete track listing. You can preview any of these tracks at CD Baby:

1. Tribute To Francy Boland (Ahern)
2. A Time Of Reckoning (Cavanagh)
3. W 7th (Ahern)
4. Copperhead (Byers)
5. Feets (Peterson)
6. North Star (Devich)
7. Granicus (Peterson)
8. Gozar (Cavanagh)
9. Grumbalambasamba (Peterson)
10. A Dream Of Hungarian Lanterns (Stinson)

We sincerely hope that listeners of this CD find it musically enlightening and entertaining!

Greetings All,

I am very excited to announce that the Nova Jazz Orchestra has completed its Seventh CD of all Minnesota Jazz. This CD – A Time of Reckoning – features 10 charts with a Minnesota connection. The title track, by Dan Cavanagh (Jazz Studies Prof at Univ. Texas at Arlington) was commissioned especially for the Nova band and is an amazing piece of music. It takes a line of Gregorian Chant and transforms it into a very hot up-tempo swing chart. It must be heard to be believed.

Nova is having a CD Release Party on TUESDAY NOVEMBER 24, 2009 at O’Gara’s Bar and Grill on the corner of Snelling and Selby in St. Paul. The event starts at 7 pm with the Frankhouse Septet (they are very cool and definitely worth a listen). The Nova band will begin playing at 8:30 pm and will go until 11 or so. We will play cuts off the CD plus some new material and a few holiday favorites, from our last recording project – An Odd Christmas. Renowned Jazz artists Dave Hagedorn, Vibes and Dave Marden, Flute, are featured on the CD and both will perform with us at the party. Nova CDs will be available at $15/each.

This CD is by far Nova’s most ambitious effort yet. I am very proud of this work and hope you will join us on the 24th.

Cheers,

Mike

What, you might ask, is the origin of the creature pictured here? Does it come from the long-forgotten myths of ancient cultures? Or is this creature from a newer myth, something to do with a movie starring Bill Murray? Or maybe it’s an extra from a newer movie?

One thing we can say for sure: this image has everything to do with A Time of Reckoning, the new CD from the Nova Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. Want to find out more? Well, you are cordially invited to our CD release party coming up next month: it’s November 24th at 7 o’clock at O’Gara’s Bar and Grill. See you there…

On a related note, if your name is Sten Johnson and you play any sort of instrument, don’t forget to talk to us about getting on Nova’s sub list.