Austin brings energy and fire to both well-known and long-lost gems by George Gershwin, including a medley of tunes about rhythm and music and another featuring songs from the opera Porgy And Bess. Her performance is designed to make listeners think about the music in a new way: "That's why we call it Avant-Gershwin. 'Cause I said I want to take those tunes, I want to put them in a jazz genre but I want to make the grooves more contemporary, more modern, so somebody that's young will hear it and go 'Damn, that's like, that's some hip stuff.' And I also wanted to kind of go a little bit Broadway with it as far as the vocals were concerned, I wanted to do them really bombastic and passionate because Gershwin, most of what he wrote and became really famous for was for theater."

The singer is slated to appear at an in-store signing to celebrate the release today, March 6th, at a Circuit City store in Los Angeles. She will also hit the road later next month for a series of performances with big bands and orchestras around the country.

For more about Austin and Avant-Gershwin, go to www.pattiaustin.com.