hal wilner, “stay awake,” Suzanne vega,
from: various interpretations of music from vintage disney films, 1988
“Stay awake don’t rest your head
Don’t lie down upon your bed
While the moon drifts in the skies
Stay awake don’t close your eyes
Though the world is fast asleep
Though your pillow soft and deep
You’re not sleepy as you seem
Stay awake, don’t nod and dream
Stay awake, don’t nod and dream”
Ms. Vega
Hal Wilner was/is the guardian angel sitting on the shoulder of music preservation. A singular impresario. He has involved with innumerable artists and projects of unmatched quality, perseverance and diversity. If you still have a blotter on your desk and are continuing to write notes to self, jot his name down. And listed below, from you know where, are the facts wherein you can experience what it means to exhaust, involve, co-ordinate, create, cajole and worry into being, major players from the recording arts who, despite their successes are always in danger of becoming forgotten. Treasure trove rabbit hole.
Velvet Underground tribute from Mr. Wilner
“
Concept albums produced by Hal Willner
Amarcord
Nino Rota (1981) Willner’s first tribute album salutes Italian composer Nino Rota, and features interpretation of his music for Federico Fellini films by jazz musicians including: Wynton and Branford Marsalis; Carla Bley; Muhal Richard Abrams; Bill Frisell; Steve Lacy; and Jaki Byard; plus singer–songwriter Deborah Harry.
That’s The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk (1984) features pop and jazz musicians including NRBQ, Steve Lacy, Dr. John, John Zorn, Donald Fagen, and Peter Frampton.
Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (1985) features musicians ranging from Sting to Charlie Haden
Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films (1988) features performances of songs from Walt Disney movies by a large cast of artists ranging from Sun Ra to NRBQ, Michael Stipe, Ringo Starr, Yma Sumac and Ken Nordine
Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus (1992) is a tribute to Charles Mingus, featuring instruments designed and built by American composer Harry Partch, on loan from his estate. Performers include Bill Frisell, Vernon Reid, Henry Rollins, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Don Byron, Henry Threadgill, Gary Lucas, Bobby Previte, Robert Quine, Leonard Cohen, Diamanda Galás, Chuck D, Francis Thumm, and Elvis Costello
September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill (1994) re-creation of the previous Weill tribute as a Canadian TV special directed by Larry Weinstein. A CD was issued including performances by Nick Cave and PJ Harvey. The list of performers on this recording is different from the list of performers on his previous Weill tribute. Some of those that are on both tributes, such as Lou Reed and Charlie Haden, provide new recordings of the pieces they contributed previously. Many of the songs included are the same, although the new recording tends toward more historical recordings (Lotte Lenya, Bertolt Brecht, and Weill himself), while the previous one tended toward more avant-garde tributes.
Stormy Weather: The Music of Harold Arlen (2003) another Larry Weinstein TV program. The CD includes performances by Rufus Wainwright, Debbie Harry, David Johansen, Eric Mingus and Sandra Bernhard
Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man (2006) soundtrack for Lian Lunson’s documentary film about Willner’s Leonard Cohen tribute event Came So Far for Beauty
Rogue’s Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs, and Chanteys (2006) Double CD includes performers ranging from Bono to Van Dyke Parks.
The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited (2006). Recorded at Hal Willner’s Harry Smith Project events in London (1999), Brooklyn (1999) and LA (2001), plus a DVD documentary.
Son of Rogues Gallery: Pirate Ballads, Sea Songs & Chanteys (2013) is a compilation album of sea shanties and the follow-up to 2006’s Rogue’s Gallery.
AngelHeaded Hipster : The Songs of Marc Bolan & T. Rex (2020) is a compilation album that pays tribute to 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Marc Bolan and his group T. Rex, although the songs included on the album cover both the T. Rex and the earlier Tyrannosaurus Rex eras. Willner relates in the notes to the album that he was exposed to the Tyrannosaurus Rex albums A Beard Of Stars and Unicorn in the early 1970s while still in high school, and later to the seminal Glam Rock album Electric Warrior by the by-then T. Rex. Decades later, BMG approached Willner to produce a tribute album to Marc as a composer, and AngelHeaded Hipster is the result. The double CD and vinyl album includes performances by Kesha, Nick Cave, Joan Jett, Devendra Banhart, Lucinda Williams, Peaches, BORNS, Beth Orton, King Khan, Gaby Moreno, U2 and Elton John, John Cameron Mitchell, Emily Haines, Father John Misty, Perry Farrell, Elysian Fields, Gavin Friday, Nena, Marc Almond, Helga Davis, Todd Rundgren, Jesse Harris, Sean Lennon and Charlotte Kemp Muhl, Victoria Williams and Julian Lennon, David Johanson, and Maria McKee. ”