GBlog

So how do we describe Hal Willner?

He's a musician and producer, of course. And while he's a music supervisor for Saturday Night Live (a role had throughout the Eighties) he also stages concerts based around concepts which interest him, like the songbook of Doc Pomus or civil rights songs.
He's also a man with a very fat contact book because on tribute albums to Italian composer Nino Rota (Amacord Nino Rota of '81), jazz geniuses Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus (That's the Way I Feel in 84, Weird Nightmare, '92), Kurt Weill (Lost in the Stars '85), Disney music, Harold Arlen and Leonard Cohen he has a rollcall of musical giants and outsiders.
Flick across those albums – and his tribute to Harry Smith's collection of old weird American songs which appeared in 2006 – and you will see everyone from Tom Waits, Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Lou Reed and Patti Smith to jazz musicians like Bill Frisell, Carla Bley, Charlie Haden, Branford Marsalis and many more.
His 2006 double album project of sea shanties Rogue's Gallery – thought up while on the set of Pirates of the Caribbean with Johnny Depp – has now spawned another double album Son of Rogue's Gallery (reviewed here).
Among the cast are Waits and Richards (together on a growling version of Shenandoah), Shane MacGowan, Beth Orton, Iggy Pop (on the bawdy Assholes Rule the Navy), Ed Harcourt, Macy Gray, Broken Social Scene, Dr John, Richard Thomson, Depp again, Sean Lennon . . .
And some real oddities like the techno-song by Todd Rundgren.
Willner speaks in a dry crackle (hints of William Burroughs with an aftertaste of Waits) and laughs frequently during the discussion. And he starts by asking:
'So, you've survived listening to this monstrous record?'
I've survived more than a few by Hal Willner in the past.
HAL WILLNER INTERVIEWED by Elsewhere (2013)

Das erste Mal bin ich Hal Wilner 1985 begegnet , als er Lost In The Stars: The Music Of Kurt Weill gemacht hat. Das war eine Entdeckung, weil es zwar zB von The Doors die 1967 auf dem Album The Doors veröffentlichte Coverversion des Alabama Song, aber sonst wenig Bezüge auf Weil in der populären Musik gab.


The guest list here is a blast, even if some of the stylistic representations are sometimes foreign to modern ears. Just some of the varied participants include Tom Waits, Sting, Todd Rundgren, John Zorn, Lou Reed, Van Dyke Parks, Henry Threadgill, Elliott Sharp and Carla Bley… with others, lingering in the background and away from the spotlight, including Steve Swallow, Branford Marsalis, Anton Fig, Jim Keltner, Fred Tackett, Kathy Dalton, Lester Bowie, Ellen Shipley, Richard Butler (The Psychedelic Furs), Dagmar Kraus (Slapp Happy), Charles K. Noyes, Fred Frith, Bobby Previte, The Uptown Horns… am I leaving a few dozen names out? Marianne Faithfull’s grand dame delivery is a natural fit with Weill’s unique brand of German expressionism ...

Neugierig geworden besorgte ich mir das Doppelalbum That’s The Way I Feel Now – A Tribute To Thelonious Monk (1984) mit dem großartigen "Four in one" von Todd Rundgren und Gary Windo:


und danach viele weitere Alben.

Einen guten Überblick über Wilners faszinierendes Schaffen - mit einigen Hörproben - finden Sie in Willard's Wormholes
Da fehlt allerdings Stormy Weather - The Music of Harold Arlen (der Soundtrack zu Larry Weinsteins gleichnamigem Film).
Harold Arlen hat so phantastische Songs geschrieben wie Over the Rainbow, Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive, Blues in the Night, That Old Black Magic, Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead, It’s Only a Paper Moon u.v.m. - Wenn Sie dies Album in die Finger bekommen: Unbedingt kaufen und hören, hören, hören ...





Hal Wilner war darüber hinaus der musikalische Koordinator und damit verantwortlich für die interessanten musical mixes in Night Music, a late-night television show which aired for two seasons between 1988 and 1990 as a showcase for jazz and eclectic musical artists. It was hosted by Jools Holland* and David Sanborn, and featured Marcus Miller as musical director. Guests included acts such as Sonny Rollins, Shinehead, Sister Carol, Sonic Youth, Joe Sample, Slim Gaillard, Pere Ubu, Pharoah Sanders, and many others. In addition, vintage clips of jazz legends like Thelonious Monk, Dave Brubeck, and Billie Holiday were also featured. The show also featured a house band of Omar Hakim (drums), Marcus Miller (bass), Philippe Saisse (keys), David Sanborn (sax), Hiram Bullock (guitar), and Jools Holland (piano).

Damit man mal sieht, welch intelligente und anspruchsvolle Musiksendungen es einmal gab, hier - trotzt des Ruckelbilds und der störenden Untertitel - die Night Music #107 aus dem Jahr 1988 mit Marianne Faithfull, John Zorn, Aaron Neville, Rob Wasserman und NRBQ mit John Sebastian (ganz großartig übrigens zusammen mit dem NRBQ-Keyboard-Freak Terry Adams - ab 33:55!)



Empfohlen sei z.B auch Night Music #110 1988 Al Jarreau, Darlene Love, Johnny Clegg & Savuka, Bashiri Johnson und unbedingt auch
Night Music #201 1989 Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pharoah Sanders, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Van Dyke Parks ...

* Jools Holland presents BBC Two's flagship music show, with legendary musicians and brand new acts from around the world, all performing live. Etwas Vergleichbares gibt es mW im hiesigen Rundfunkt leider nicht!