RIP Hal Willner

The pandemic has taken a number of musicians I've respected and admired, Manu Dibango, Bucky Pizzarelli, Ellis Marsalis among them. The one that's hit me most to the bones is Hal Willner, the brilliant producer and musical thinker, whose cross-genre compilation albums were a bedrock influence on the Unpopular Music webcasts.and on my musical outlook in general.

I posted this about two-and-a-half years ago, and that's the way I feel now.

Here's a small sample of his work. A lot of these tracks have been presented in various Unpopular Music programs, but bear repeating. The first half is the brighter of the two.




See the playlist and notes after the break...

Hal Willner talks about the variety show

On last night's episode of Morricone Island on WFMU, noted hero of the blog Hal Willner used the term "variety show" while speaking with host Devon E. Levins about the "extravagant, cross-genre" tribute albums he's produced over the last four decades or so, as well as the episodes of "Night Music" he produced around 1990.¹ I may start using that term to describe the webcast, as they are directly influenced by these albums.

Willner was promoting a live presentation of the first of those albums, "Amarcord Nino Rota," which is happening in New York this week, but also talked about his entry into his unique spot in the music biz, as well as some of the other albums he's produced. All around an interesting program.

Playlist for the Unpopular Music Webcast for October 14, 2017

Today we commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of Thelonious Monk, one of the singular jazz pianists and composers and a personal idol of mine. If pressed to bestow such a ridiculous title, I would say he's my favorite musician ever.




However, thanks to our old friend the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we cannot play more than four tracks credited to any one artist in the time allotted for the webcast, so, as with our Ornette Coleman tribute a couple of years back, we necessarily focus on Monk the composer.

Hal Willner has lived the life I wished I had

Well, maybe not the pharmaceutical cocaine, but a lot of everything else.

The "extravagant, cross-genre" tribute albums are certainly an influence on the webcast. Although being in the next generation after his, I suppose, I do still have heroes, and he's one of them.

I was also a kid who went around talking to himself, locking myself in my room with a dream world, retreating into television and records. The apartment pictured above would be a dream space for me.  I'm terrible at meeting people, which probably explains the different paths of our lives. I suppose I'm also a watcher, not a doer. But Willner actually is a doer, and I'm envious of many of the things he's done.