Not only was he one of the finest comedians America has ever produced, Jackie Gleason applied his prodigious talents to music as well. With a strong jazz roots background (leaning to mesmerized idolatry when dealing with good trumpet players), Gleason developed a chart-topping series of mood music albums in the '50s, citing his reason for their existence: "Every time I ever watched Clark Gable do a love scene in the movies, I'd hear this really pretty music, real romantic, come up behind him and help set the mood. So I'm figuring that if Clark Gable needs that kinda help, then a guy in Canarsie has gotta be dyin' for somethin' like this!"…
…Alternately vivacious and soulful, they are wonderful pieces and they hold no obvious terrors for Tianwa Yang. Whether she’s slipping a few harmonics into insanely fast passage-work, or firing off a volley of left-hand pizzicatos, she has all of this music under firm control. Ernest Martínez Izquierdo and the Navarra orchestra accompany with equal verve, and the sonics are excellent in all respects.
LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VOL. 1 & 2 features instrumental pieces arranged by Zappa for an orchestra. To the uninitiated, Frank Zappa was known primarily as an unpredictable, hard-to-categorize, twisted rock genius. But to his loyal legion of fans worldwide, he is much more. Not many realize that Zappa was a talented composer and arranger of symphonic music as well, as evidenced on such releases as 1979's ORCHESTRAL FAVORITES, and especially LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA VOL. 1 & 2.