Browns in Blue is the quintet’s third recording for Sony Classical. The 5 Browns appear in differing settings throughout the CD, from individual performances to duos, trios and ultimately the full quintet. While heavy on classical works by composers such as Brahms, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Schubert, Blue also features the work of Gershwin and WC Handy. What is most impressive about Blue is that listening offers an insight into how these young phenoms hear music. Their sound yields more than technique, a quality that makes this recording highly enjoyable.

On WC Handy’s “Aunt Hagar’s Blues,” Gregory Brown plays with thoughtfulness and warmth as though he wants to rid Aunt Hagar of her blues by comforting her with his music. Gershwin’s “Embraceable You” sounds delicate and sweet at the hands of Desirae Brown, like what every woman has at some point imagined an embrace would feel like coming from someone she loved or wanted to love. “Home Blues from An American in Paris,” featuring a performance by trumpeter Chris Botti along with the play of the full quintet of Browns, is fun and energetic. Botti fits in nicely with the family and the sounds constantly dance from piano to trumpet to piano (and piano and piano and piano again). The bonus track, “Everybody Loves Somebody,” includes the vocals of Rat P favorite Dean Martin. The quintet manages to make Martin come alive, potentially sparking a rumor that either Dean Martin still lives among us or that these five have lived before.