Hal Willner
Hal Willner ( born 1957 in Philadelphia ) is an American music producer who is especially known because of its genre- tribute tribute albums and concerts.
Life and work
In the 1970s he worked as an assistant to Joel Dorn. In 1981, he worked as a music supervisor of Saturday Night Live. He was also the producer of the television program Sunday Night by David Sanborn. Wilner brings his interests as well on theater and film music to jazz and rock music, and contemporary classical music. Since 1981, he published a series of tribute albums, in which he brings together musicians from jazz, rock and avant-garde, so that Elvis Costello on Bill Frisell or Harry Nilsson meets Arto Lindsay. He was also responsible for the soundtrack of Robert Altman's Short Cuts films and Kansas City; for the latter film, he received the 1996 Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Film Music. In 2000, he led musicians like Bono and Brian Eno for his recording of the soundtrack to Wim Wenders' film together The Million Dollar Hotel.
Willner also produced albums for Marianne Faithfull, Lou Reed, Bill Frisell, William S. Burroughs, Gavin Friday, Lucinda Williams, Laurie Anderson, Allen Ginsberg, Gary Lucas, the Jazz Passengers, or Spanish Fly.
Tribute albums
- Amarcord Nino Rota ( 1981) deals with the music of the Italian film composer Nino Rota for Federico Fellini and contains interpretations of Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Carla Bley, Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Frisell, Steve Lacy, Jaki Byard and Debbie Harry.
- That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk ( 1984) contains contributions from musicians in the span of John Zorn on Dr. John to Chris Spedding and Peter Frampton.
- Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (1985). This time musician Tom Waits on Lou Reed and Todd Rundgren to Charlie Haden were involved.
- Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films ( 1988). This album contains interpretations of tunes from the Disney films in the spectrum of Sun Ra on Yma Sumac and Los Lobos, to Michael Stipe or Ringo Starr.
- Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (1992), a tribute album for Charles Mingus, the interpretations of his music with such diverse musicians such as Vernon Reid, Henry Rollins, Keith Richards, Henry Threadgill and Diamanda Galás contains.
- Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen ( 2005). The album goes back to a television feature by Larry Weinstein and includes performances by Rufus Wainwright, Debbie Harry, David Johansen, Eric Mingus and Sandra Bernhard.
Live Tribute Concerts (selection)
- Greetings From Tim Buckley (1991 )
- Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2006) Documentary by Lian Lunson about Will former tribute concert Came So Far For Beauty for Leonard Cohen
- Rogue 's Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006) double album with artists from Bono to Van Dyke Parks.
- The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited (2006). With recordings of concerts in London (1999), Brooklyn (1999 ) and Los Angeles ( 2001).
Lexigraphic entries
- Wolf Kampmann (ed.) Reclams jazz lexicon. Stuttgart 2003; ISBN 3-15-010528-5