Saxophonist/flautist Jane Bunnett's Embracing Voices honors the human voice with unbridled intensity and features brave rhythmic, melodic and harmonic explorations. The record features fourteen instruments that swathe the heavenly choiristics of Grupo Vocal Desandann, the legendary ten-person a capella ensemble that celebrates a Haitian legacy. The choral group employs dense harmonies, intricately woven into call-and-response segues and contrapuntal structures that makes Desandann one of the most distinctive 10-voice choirs in music. Stately basses grind con arco together with the trill of the high-flying soprano voices, both ranges held together by the impervious glue of the contralto and counter-tenors in the middle. Often these are melded with the bright skittering of the tres guitar and the rumble of the congas and tumbas, punctuated with the melodic clunk of the claves. On this record lead voices occasionally arise from the five male and five female singers like waves in an ocean of sound.

Lead voices have also been crafted to include the rich sonic tapestry of Telmary Diaz's rap, the soaring, soulful inflections of Kellylee Evans' pipes and the gravelly and emotionally-charged blues of Molly Johnson, who leads the cast in one of the most definitive versions of legendary Belgian troubadour Jacques Brel's "If You Go Away (Ne me quitte pas)" since