Genre: Jazz

From the iconic groove of his Take Five to the infectious melody he composed in Blue Rondo À la Turk and beyond, Dave Brubeck was an innovative musical figure who left an indelible footprint on the history of jazz. His groundbreaking approach to composition stretched far beyond the barriers of genre, however. THE VOICE OF BRUBECK, VOL. 1 from Navona Records showcases the legendary artist’s contributions to symphonic, chamber, and sacred vocal music, and explorations of new musical forms. Spearheaded by producer Arthur Gottschalk and the Lago Vista Community Concerts Foundation, this album offers a diverse palette of celebrated and previously-unrecorded choral and orchestral works that Brubeck regarded as some of his finest. Featuring the GRAMMY® Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir alongside a 19-piece orchestra and the Brubeck Brothers and Paul English Quartets, THE VOICE OF BRUBECK, VOL. 1 carries on the legacy of the widely influential pianist and composer’s body of work so that future generations may enjoy his music for years to come.

Following her first Navona Records release, IKARUS AMONG THE STARS, New York-based composer Debra Kaye has curated an ever-varying mix of chamber and solo pieces with TIME IS THE SEA WE SWIM IN. Kaye’s inspirations are seemingly endless, from the improvisatory piano solo At Liberty (1988) where Kaye returns to her roots as a performer, to the jazzy Colossus 1067 (2021) written to accompany Gus Foster’s time-distorting panoramic photograph taken on a roller coaster with a rotary camera; from current events to the poetry of Zen monks, European Romanticism to a philosophical, even metaphysical meditation on time and the creative process. Kaye’s eclectic collection showcases and reconciles heterogeneous influences by way of a sonic language that is wholly, uncompromisingly her own. Her confident embrace of diverse sounds and styles invite and challenge listeners to join her on this voyage of discovery and dip a toe into this sea that we all swim in.

The Navona Records debut from chamber-jazz group Douglas Detrick's AnyWhen Ensemble features composer and trumpeter Douglas Detrick's ten-movement suite, The Bright and Rushing World, commissioned by Chamber Music America. This work, which George Grella called "impressively clear, inventive and compelling," (Big City Blog, 2.4.14) is not a pastiche of styles, but a thoughtfully-constructed hybrid of music with a unique and personal sensibility inspired by sources as diverse as Duke Ellington, Gil Evans, Benjamin Britten and Igor Stravinsky.