NOVA is an international quintet led by Belgian bassist Félix Zurstrassen. He is, in many ways, an artist apart. His rare virtuosity combines the extreme demands that his music requires and the way in which he offers it to the public: like a clear, collective and generous adventure. His demanding approach can mostly be seen in the way he gathers around him exceptional musicians. He is joined by some of the finest European musicians of their generation: Dutch alto saxophonist Ben van Gelder, Franco-Brazilian guitarist Nelson Veras, English pianist Kit Downes and Belgian drummer Antoine Pierre. As the leader of the project NOVA, Zurstrassen stands nobly in the right place to showcase compositions full of surprises and detours, specially designed for his brilliant companions through subtle bass playing - like delicately directed whispers. Here, he acts like a stage director that chooses and reveals talents, without necessarily choosing to say much; his music speaks for itself. Immersed in music since childhood, Félix was exposed to the complexities of rhythm and harmony at an early age. Nourished by these elements, he has created a world whose melodic force offers listeners the perfect sesame. They are then swept away by a music made up of surprises, like so many decors to he discovered, flabbergasted by so much invention, carried away by the masterful cohesion of an ideal European group of staggering maturity. https://www.felixzurstrassen.com