The dean of film composers, Bernard Herrmann was probably the most gifted musician ever to work in movies, with barely a note of music to his credit that is not worthwhile. A classically trained composer, Herrmann worked for Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre and the CBS radio network before going to Hollywood with Welles in 1940. His first two film... [+] Read More

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Bert Kaempfert had almost too much talent, ability, and good luck rolled into one career to be fully appreciated, even by his own chosen audience, the lovers of fine orchestral pop music. He was one of the most successful conductors, arrangers, and recording artists in the latter field, but was also a major producer and played a key (if... [+] Read More

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With a hit-single track record spanning four decades, Burt Bacharach became one of the most important composers of popular music in the 20th century, almost equal to such classic tunesmiths as George Gershwin or Irving Berlin. His sophisticated yet breezy productions borrowed from cool jazz, soul, Brazilian bossa nova, and traditional pop to... [+] Read More

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The most successful classical/crossover recording artist in chart history, Erich Kunzel rose to fame during his lengthy reign as the conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra. Educated at Dartmouth, Harvard, and Brown Universities, he studied under French conductor Pierre Montreux, later serving as his personal assistant; in 1965, Kunzel was... [+] Read More

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Hugo Montenegro was a composer, arranger, and conductor who is primarily known for his movie work in the '60s, as well as his adaptations of film scores like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Montenegro began his musical career in the U.S. Navy, where he arranged scores for various military bands. After he left the Navy, he completed school at... [+] Read More

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Along with his brother Larry, trumpeter Les Elgart led one of the more popular swing orchestras of the '50s. His smooth, tightly arranged sound helped keep the declining big band style alive on the charts for a little while longer, and his later reunions with Larry often produced stylistic detours into contemporary easy listening trends. Elgart... [+] Read More

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Austrian-born film composer Max Steiner was the grandson of the musical impresario who discovered Strauss and brought Offenbach to Vienna. Growing up with a rich heritage of opera and symphony all about him, Steiner developed into a musical prodigy; at the age of thirteen he graduated from the Imperial Academy of Music, completing the course in... [+] Read More

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Percy Faith was one of the most popular easy listening recording artists of the '50s and '60s. Not only did he have a number of hit albums and singles under his own name, but Faith was responsible for arranging hits by Tony Bennett, Doris Day, Johnny Mathis, and Burl Ives, among others, as the musical director for Columbia Records in the '50s.... [+] Read More

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In a musical career that has spanned six decades, Quincy Jones has earned his reputation as a renaissance man of American music. Jones has distinguished himself as a bandleader, a solo artist, a sideman, a songwriter, a producer, an arranger, a film composer, and a record label executive, and outside of music, he's also written books, produced... [+] Read More

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Robert Farnon as a composer of light classical and "mood music," is a rival to figure such as Eric Coates, David Rose, and Percy Faith. He has also been notably successful in the field of film music since the 1940's.

Robert Joseph Farnon was born into a musical family in Toronto, Canada in 1917. He showed a natural aptitude as a... [+] Read More

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A one-man band. Second release in many, many years. Surf-oriented, think Man or Astro-Man.

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