Through the '80s and '90s, Jolliffe continued on an ambitious solo career, producing works in numerous sonic modes from ambient atmospherics to energetic fusions of jazz, rock and electronics. Jolliffe's delicate style bestows his instrumental music with a pastoral sense that transcends earthly vistas, striving for voids beyond the heavens.

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Deep Down Far (CD on Horizon Music)

Somber pulses cascade onto a beach of soft sequencer tones. Electronic tinklings scamper across the synthetic grains, delicate footfalls sounding like the lazy patter of elfin steps. The pattern recedes to allow the synthesizer surf to lap at the beach once more. When acoustic guitar appears, strumming sweetly, it is soon followed by classical piano, separate keys dancing among starlight twinkles.

The melodies are passive, no rhythm surging or bass thundering to disturb the contemplative music. The moods are pensive, slowly building to a sudden violin drama that catches the breath of the listener. Sonic fingers lightly grip the heart, squeezing almost imperceptibly. The mind feels the constriction, insubstantial and ethereal.

Night music drifts over the abandoned beach, sinking like intangible rainfall onto the sand, seeping down . . . deep and far, reaching for the planetary soul.

Later on, the music will rise with soft percussion and vocoder chants. But generally, this 69-minute CD from 1998 is targeted for relaxation mode, briefly stirring the attention with delicate and highly melodic crescendos.

The final track, a 24-minute epic composition, features a decidedly peppier incarnation of Jolliffe’s ambient soundscapes, incorporating a sense of rapid sequencers and drama.

MP3 Sample:
"Exordiri"

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Omni (CD on Horizon Music)

Jolliffe’s music is often a diverse animal, running in ambient fields and fusion pastures. This is an extremely melodic outing from 1997: after a minimalist intro piece, the music is full of popping keyboards, dreamy bubbles and snappy rhythms.

The 56-minute CD wraps up with an epic finale enhanced by ricocheting rhythms and punctuated nicely by a piano interlude. The cosmic vacuum stirs with lively electronic riffs, cavorting to the lure of uplifting rhythms. Despite its frequent swells of power, this music is soft, delivering rises and crescendos amidst a very peaceful sonic palate.

MP3 Sample:
"Enter"

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Zanzi (CD on Horizon Music)

This 1995 release features an active electronic landscape, melodic strains interweaving with delicate keyboards and sensual bass percussion. The dynamic music (one long 61-minute piece broken into ten passages) is quite tasty with its counterpoint of trance and tempo.

The compositions are gripping, evoking an epic journey through the dangerous clouds of stellar nebula, venturing deeper and deeper to discover the protostar hidden at the center of the undulating sonic mists.

You get sequenced bongos and heavenly keyboards, excellent use of ricocheting pulses and rushes, with a very dramatic symphonic rock finale.

MP3 Sample

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Escape (CD on Horizon Music)

On this 43-minute release from 1991, Jolliffe diverts his dynamic music to a more sedate pasture. Although all the instruments are produced on a VFX-SD and WX7, the range of sounds encompass electronic keyboards, orchestral swells, peppery percussion, clacking mechanics, jazz bass, horns, and more.

Progressive jazz and a densely classical structure creep into the instrumental electronics. The compositions retain Jolliffe's fire, but the medium is different, adopting a concert hall grandeur.

MP3 Sample:
"Land Unknown"

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Journeys Out of the Body (CD on Horizon Music)

This Jolliffe release from 1983 possesses a more laid-back aura. The music is tight and spacey on the 37-minute CD. Electronics share the sonic stage with flute, piano and Tony Duhig (from Jade Warrior) on electric guitar.

The journey is a refreshing experience, one of relaxation and release, passing the listener's consciousness into a state of passive expansion. The delicate compositions carry you through mysterious voids and vibrant atmospherics, for it is a journey of discovery as well as introspective calm.

MP3 Sample:
"Middle Dream State"

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Warrior (CD on Waveform International, distributed by Horizon Music)

This 45-minute CD from 1992 is a dramatic instrumental look at the culture of the Native American Indians. Dynamic and entertaining, this music evokes astral planes and arid prairies with melodic tuneage and emotional compositions.

Energetic keyboards vie with percussion and flute amid uptempo pieces. The tasty and versatile percussives propel the music with sinuous rhythms, flowing easily through the keyboard electronics and orchestral passages. The melodies are never brash or overt, possessing a nobility and grand manner. Spectral flute adds a pleasantly ethereal edge to some of the tracks.

MP3 Sample:
"Ghostdancers"

STEVE JOLLIFFE: Beyond the Dream (CD on Atlantis Records)

This 44 minute CD from 1984 reflects a lyrical turn for Jolliffe's music. A wider range of instrumentation can be heard in this music: saxophones, drums, guitar, flute, and of course keyboards and electronics. The songs display inspirational vocals, backing up the message with delicately powerful tuneage of a soaring nature. Quite the dynamic album.

MP3 Sample:
"Captains of Fate"

VARIOUS ARTISTS: Infinite Horizon (double CD on Horizon Music)

This compilation features tracks by: Christopher Franke (who was an integral Tangerine Dream member from 1971 to 1988), Star Sounds Orchestra (including ex-Tangerine Dreamer Steve Schroyder), Hans-Joachim Roedelius (from Cluster), two pieces by Lightwave, two pieces by Klaus Kruger (ex-Tangerine Dream), Detlef Keller and Mario Schonwalder, three pieces by Conrad Schnitzler (the grandfather of European electronic music and a founding member of Tangerine Dream and Cluster), Propeller Island, Michael Hoenig (another ex-Tangerine Dream member), Jorg Thomasius, Johannes Schmoelling (yet another ex-Tangerine Dream member), Pete Namlook and Rob Gordon, and Steve and John Jolliffe (Steve being another ex-Tangerine Dream member). And there's over two hours of it.

Clearly, this collection of otherwise unreleased tracks revolves around a sonic core of ex-Tangerine Dream personnel and the influences this music has had upon other modern electronic musicians, from Cluster's Roedelius to Pete Namlook, the founder of the ultimate techno/rave label Fax Records who has recently been collaborating with other German synthesizer legend Klaus Schulze. Quite a head-twirling gathering of notables.

With so many examples of electronic music contained on this double CD, it would be unfair to classify all of the tracks under a single description. Suffice it to say that the sonics featured display mature drama and cosmic melodies of distinct worth, entertaining and mesmerizing doses of ethereal tonalities with a hint of dynamics.