Convergence

Czech National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Paul Freeman

Like father like son? Half a century ago Dave Brubeck created a sound that fused a classical music sensibility with immediacy and trappings of jazz as well as a penchant for making oddball meters groove. His son, Chris, carries on the family tradition in works that have the trappings of classical music but retain a jazz sensibility. For me, this duality is most effective in “La Grande Parade du Funk,” the third and final movement of Convergence, where the spirit of a New Orleans Mardi Gras romp is in no way compromised by scads of violins and cascading bi-tonalities.

—FJO