Composer/arranger Burt Bacharach (born 1928) established himself in the 1960s as one of America's premier pop songwriters. After achieving considerable success with recordings by Dionne Warwick and B.J. Thomas, among many others, he found his style of music out of fashion during the 1970s and 1980s. In the late 1990s, he returned to active composing as a new generation discovered his music.

The sophisticated melodies of Burt Bacharach were among the defining sounds of American popular music in the 1960s and early 1970s. In an era when rock gained ascendancy, his elegant compositions echoed the heyday of the great Broadway and Tin Pan Alley songwriters. In tandem with lyricist Hal David, Bacharach created songs graced with complex rhythms and fresh harmonic patterns that were rich in color and mood. The Bacharach/David team produced a remarkable body of work for the stage and screen as well as...