1966 Time Life

When it comes to creative longevity, brilliance across a range of styles, and near-universal fame, Igor Stravinsky (1882–1971) is nearly unrivaled among 20th-century artists. As told by Professor Robert Greenberg, Stravinsky's career is a dizzying, enthralling progression across the miles and the decades from fin de siècle Czarist Russia to Southern California in the 1960s.

The year 1965 was a turning point in the life of John Coltrane. It was at this point that he crossed the line into the free jazz arena that he had been approaching since the early '60s. Besides his landmark Ascension, no album better illustrates this than the awe-inspiring Meditations. Coltrane's regular quartet - McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums) - is expanded here with second drummer Rashied Ali (who assumed Jones' spot after this album) and saxophonist Pharoah Sanders. This conglomeration produces some dense textures, especially in the epic first track "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost." This sonic hurricane is a 13-minute outpouring of spiritual emotion that is at once compelling and exhausting…