An adventurous big band rendering of George Gershwin songs that celebrate the Gershwin jazz connection. As with 2002's GRAMMY®-nominated homage to Ella Fitzgerald For Ella, Patti worked her magic again with the WDR Big Band on Avant-Gershwin. Avant-Gershwin finds Austin re-imagining George Gershwin's complex and fascinating body of work. "You can judge a brilliant piece of music by how you can bend and stretch it,“ said Austin. “I always believed George Gershwin to be avant-garde so I wanted to challenge myself and rework everything melodically and lyrically.” She created unique and personal interpretations with arranger Michael Abene (Lionel Hampton, Buddy Rich, B.B. King), aiming for an operatic but contemporary feeling. Quincy Jones said of the album " ‘Avant-Gershwin’ is a Triumph. Listen Up!"