Music Boys Age

Whenever he was asked to name his own personal favorite within his long and distinguished oeuvre, Jerry Goldsmith inevitably cited his work on 1977's obscure Ernest Hemingway adaptation Islands in the Stream. A lush, often melancholy score evoking both the serenity and the treachery of the sea, it is undoubtedly Goldsmith's most intimate effort, eschewing the larger-than-life drama and suspense of his best-known soundtracks. Islands in the Stream is above all a showcase for the composer's consummate ability to vividly communicate both the physical and emotional landscape in such simple yet precise strokes – employing little but a lone French horn, Goldsmith's main theme captures the immense loneliness and solitude of George C. Scott's protagonist, while gentle woodwinds suggest the ocean waves lapping the shore of his island home.

After the massive scale of the Journey to the Center of the Earth and Myths and Legends of King Arthur… projects, Wakeman was told by his record company (and his finances, and his health), "no more extravaganzas." So he produced this album with a stripped-down seven-piece band he called the English Rock Ensemble…

This was the soundtrack to a motion picture documentary of the same name of the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympic Games…

It's hard to believe that the saxophone once took a back seat to the trumpet and the cornet as a jazz instrument, but in fact, that was very much the case in the 1890s, 1900s, and 1910s. The rise of Coleman "Bean" Hawkins in the '20s, however, changed that; thanks to the popularity and visibility that Hawkins enjoyed as the tenor star of Fletcher Henderson's orchestra, saxophonists became incredibly prominent in jazz - and any jazz musician who is playing a saxophone today (be it tenor, alto, soprano, baritone, or bass) owes him a huge debt of gratitude. Bennie Wallace is well aware of that debt, which is why the tenor man salutes him with such enthusiasm on Disorder at the Border: The Music of Coleman Hawkins. Recorded live at the Berlin JazzFest in Germany on November 6, 2004, this 65-minute CD celebrates what would have been Hawkins' 100th birthday…

This very progressive album is one of the best made by Rick Wakeman, the Yes' keyboardist. The album, as usual, is very keyboards oriented, although there are outstanding drums and bass parts too…

Not only did this album help pave the way for progressive rock, but it also introduced the unbridled energy and overall effectiveness of the synthesizer as a bona fide instrument…

Journey to the Centre of the Earth is one of progressive rock's crowning achievements. With the help of the London Symphony Orchestra and the English Chamber Choir, Rick Wakeman turns this classic Jules Verne tale into an exciting and suspenseful instrumental narrative…