Jon Anderson has gotten into the spirit of the just-started Olympics, releasing a new song that combines the anthematic echoes of “Chariots of Fire” with his patented hope-streaked lyrics.

With the possible exception of his one-time employer Keith Jarrett, there’s no other musician who epitomizes ECM Records more than the saxophonist from Norway, Jan Garbarek.

The criminally underappreciated Bruce Hornsby, shackled forever in the public consciousness by his lone drum-tracked No. 1 hit from 1986, returns with a nuanced, assured soundtrack effort for the forthcoming Spike Lee film.

A friend of mine has informed me that the technical, WeatherChannel description for the kind of weather we’re having right now is “ball-sweating hot.” Funny, I’ve never heard that phrase used during one of those “On The 8′s” broadcasts.