Tune of the Week: Hal Wilner

Hal Wilner was a unique record producer who specialized in tribute albums and concerts. He amassed an amazing list of musicians to perform at times irreverent renditions of tunes from songbooks from Thelonious Monk, Kurt Veil, Nino Rota and even Disney films. One of his most unique creations was “Weird Nightmare": Meditations on Mingus”, a tribute to both Charles Mingus and Harry Partch. Wilner combined compositions as well as prose Mingus had written and combined it with the instruments and tonalities of Partch to create an unsettling sonic landscape that crystallized the off-kilter mentalities of these two musical geniuses. Here is a piece featuring two of Partch’s instrument creations alongside Robbie Robertson reading a story from Mingus’ autobiography, “Beneath the Underdog”. The line about how “last year seems like ten years ago” really rings true in 2020.