Artist: Various
Album: Hal Willner Presents Weird Nightmare: Meditations On Mingus
Genre: Avant-Garde Jazz, Modern Creative
Label: Columbia
Released: 1992
Quality: FLAC (tracks+.cue)
Tracklist:
- Art Baron/Francis Thumm/Bill Frisell/Don Alias/Gary Lucas/Michael Blair/Greg Cohen - Canon (Part 1)
- Michael Blair/Art Baron/Greg Cohen/Don Alias/Henry Threadgill/Marc Ribot/Bill Frisell/Francis Thumm - Meditations on Integration
- Robbie Robertson - Canon (Part 2)
- Don Alias/Michael Blair/Art Baron/Bill Frisell/Gary Lucas/Greg Cohen - Jump Monk
- Elvis Costello - Weird Nightmare
- Greg Cohen/Vernon Reid/Geri Allen/Don Byron/Don Alias/Michael Blair/Francis Thumm/Bill Frisell... - Work Song
- Bill Frisell/Don Byron/Art Baron/Don Alias/Greg Cohen/Michael Blair/Francis Thumm - Self-Portrait in 3 Colors
- Henry Rollins - Purple Heart
- Charlie Watts/Greg Cohen/The Uptown Horns - Tonight at Noon
- Chuck D - Gunslinging Bird; or, If Charlie Parker Were a Gunslinger, There'd Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats
- Bill Frisell - Weird Nightmare Interlude
- Don Alias/Don Byron/Michael Blair/Bill Frisell/Greg Cohen/Hal Willner/Gary Lucas - Reincarnation of a Lovebird / Haitian Fight Song Montage
- Tony Trischka/Bob Stewart/Barry Mitterhoff/Susan Evans/Kenny Kosek/Howard Levy/Bobby Previte - Open Letter to Duke
- Hubert Selby Jr. - The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive-Ass Slippers
- Keith Richards/Bernard Fowler/Greg Cohen/Chuck Leavell/Charlie Watts/Bobby Keyes/The Uptown Horns - Oh Lord, Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me
- Diamanda Galas - Eclipse
- Robert Quine/Greg Cohen/Art Baron/Don Alias/Michael Blair/Francis Thumm/Bill Frisell/Hal Willner - Pithecanthropus Erectus
- Dr. John - Freedom
- Michael Blair/Marc Ribot/Don Alias/Elvis Costello/Henry Threadgill/Art Baron/Greg Cohen... - Weird Nightmare (Reprise)
DOWNLOAD FROM FILECAT.NET >>>
This Mingus tribute features a number of instruments with unusual pitch and sound constructed by avant-garde DIY composer Harry Partch that provide a very eerie vibe to this record, readings from unpublished sections of Mingus' autobiography Beneath the Underdog by hip celebrities (i.e. Henry Rollins ruminating on the word 'groovy'), songs played by a 'house band' composed of 'downtown' jazz musicians such as Don Byron, Bill Frisell, Bobby Previte and Greg Cohen and guest performers and arrangers that include Henry Threadgill, Elvis Costello, Keith Richards and Chuck D. Richards sings and plays a hilarious version of the blues 'Oh Lord, Don't Let them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me' and Chuck D. delivers an explosive two-minute rap based on a passage from Mingus' autobio that is underpinned by weird but rhythmic sounds from the Harry Partch instruments and a solid Bill Frisell guitar workout (too rarely heard, these days).
The disparate elements that went into the making of this album are ingeniously combined by Willner into a multifaceted CD that is a truthful reflection of Charles Mingus' complex and self-contradictory personality and music. On top of that this record is also quite entertaining, highly musical and even moving in places. Not for the faint of heart or musical purists.