That's The Way I Feel Now- A Tribute To Thelonious Monk (1984)

Gav revisits Hal Willner's Multi-Artist Project in order to convince Tom that there's something in it for everybody

Jul 28, 2023

Hal Willner

Hal’s first excursion into the Tribute album form was this in 1981…

…Then After The Thelonius Monk Album, came this , in 1985…

Followed by this in 1988…

…then 1992 saw this strange tribute to Charles Mingus and somehow Harry Partch

…Finally, 1998 saw Hal Willner put together an album that didn’t seem to be a tribute to anybody, except perhaps the Three Stooges

HERE is a link to a rather interesting interview with Willner that talks about the earlier part of his career

HERE is Hal later on, talking about Movies and pirates.

HERE is Hal much later on.

Tom’s favourite various artist album

Primary — RRR 500 (Various 500 Lock-Grooves By 500 Artists)

The Artists ( very briefly)

Bruce Fowler - was a mainstay of both the bands of Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart
NRBQ - The New Rhythm & Blues Quartet. Originally from Kentucky, appeared on the Spongebob Squarepants Album “The Best Day Ever”
Steve Kahn - American Jazz Guitarist, also played with Steely Dan
Donald Fagen - Founder member of Steely Dan
Dr John. - Pianist and Louisiana legend
Carla Bley - Pianist, Organist, Bandleader, composer & Arranger
Johnny Griffin - Hard-Bop tenor player, played with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, also on the album “Thelonius Monk with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers” (1957). Also appeared on two Monk albums for Riverside as a sideman, (1958).
Barry Harris - Jazz Pianist, played with everybody, lots of really good youtube tutorial videos!
Was (Not Was) - American Pop/Rock act famous for the hit “Walk The Dinosaur”. Their albums often had eclectic guest stars. In 2012, Don Was became president of Blue Note records.
Mark Bingham - Better known as a producer, he had a career in various Avant- Rock outfits
Steve Lacy - Played with Thelonius Monk for a while
Charlie Rouse - Was Monk’s tenor player on all the classic ‘60s CBS albums
Sharon Freeman - French Hornist, Pianist and arranger. Was nominated for a Grammy for this track.
Todd Rundgen - American Guitarist and producer
Randy Weston - American pianist and composer. Long and distinguished recording career
Elvin Jones - The Drummer in the John Coltrane Quartet
John Zorn - Saxophonist, Composer who “deliberately resists category”
Terry Adams & Friends - Terry Adams was a founding member of NRBQ. The friends are Roswell Rudd, trombone player who took part in Archie Shepp’s first album for Impulse, Pat Patrick, a member of the Sun Ra Arkestra who wrote the tune “Yeh Yeh” for Mongo Santamaria that was later a hit for Geogie Fame, John Ore, another Arkestra member who had also played with Thelonius Monk and Frankie Dunlop, Monk’s drummer on several of the classic CBS albums
Shockabilly - Short-lived avant-rock three piece from New York
Joe Jackson - British New-Wave musician
Bobby Mcferrin-US Jazz singer famous for “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”
Dave Samuels - American Vibes and Marimba player. Member of Spyro-Gyra.
Chris Spedding - English Guitarist and producer. Former member of Nucleus
Peter Frampton - Guitarist, former member of The Herd and Humble Pie. Very successful as a solo artist.
Steve Slagel - Saxohonist, bandleader. Carla Bley collaborator.
Gil Evans - Canadian Pianist& Bandleader. Arranger of Miles Davis’s classic larger band albums.