" data-original-title="" title="">Mike Holober's This Rock We're On: Imaginary Letters, featuring Holober and his Gotham Jazz Orchestra, digs into this theme in a sprawling, two-disc big band jazz outing. Like life itself, and the resulting ecosystems, this multi-movement suite—an effort that is the result of Holober's two passions in life: music and the natural world—is almost impossibly complicated, endlessly beautiful (even when we do not understand it) and something to be savored.

Much has been said about the melding of classical music and jazz. This Rock We're On, with its expansive soundscapes, brassy interludes, inspired soloing and intermittent vocals is a prime example of that classical/jazz intermingling.

To realize his artistic vision for the project, Holober put himself into the minds of six "protagonists," artists and or activists who have dedicated themselves to the natural world: environmental movement pioneer Rachel Carson, photographer Ansel Adams, conservationist Sigurd Olson, novelist, poet and essayist Wendell Berry and more. Embracing these mindsets, Holober wrote "imaginary letters" from the various perspectives of these groundbreakers. This majestic suite swings between art songs for chamber ensemble, alternating these imaginary letters with majestic, awe-and-wonder orchestral sections.

The interweaving of instrumental voices is indeed awe-inspiring. The woodwind/saxophone people are all multi-reedists who fashion airy backdrops.