Arto Lindsay, Tribute to Hal Willner

I knew Hal for many years, but I really got to know him last fall when I was in New York. After dinner with Laurie Anderson, Hal and I took long walks. He had a million stories to tell, and he was an amazing story teller. Which is maybe why he ended up being quoted throughout his life talking about his inspirations. We always read about him describing the experience of seeing unusual concerts like Rahsaan Roland Kirk and another band like, say, Pink Floyd, on the same night. But when people would ask him about his approach, “Where did you get the idea?” he’d just say, “Well, when I was growing up, everybody did this, you know?” It's true that in the late ’80s a number of musicians—like Vernon [Reid] and [John] Zorn—were starting to curate music and would deliberately make these really eclectic bills. It was like, “Let’s see if the audience can draw a connection between a Noise band and torch singer, or whatever.” It wasn’t so unheard of. But for Hal, it wasn’t even such a downtown New York thing. It was also a Fillmore thing! And he brought it to TV.

I went several times to Night Music just to hang out and watch the show, because I lived nearby. It was very “music scene.” It was totally chill. The atmosphere was down to earth and about musicians, and there was never a star who tried to throw the fear of God into anyone. I remember that I was there one time when Al Green was on, and I walked up to him at the end and said, “Hey, man, let me shake your hand, I’m your biggest fan.” And he was like, “What do you mean, shake my hand?” He gave me a huge bear hug instead, which was crazy because however smooth his singing was, this guy was built like a football player.

My experience was the same when Hal invited the Ambitious Lovers to do Night Music. That show was like the height of our fame. Everybody watched that show on TV, so it had kind of an impact. People would recognize us on the street for a little while. But even then I remember how nice the scene onstage was when we played. Youssou N’Dour was also on that night. When we got off the stage, that band came running into the dressing room and they said, “The guitar!! What’s that guitar?” And then later I ended up on a couple of other projects with Yussou.

Night Music was also interesting for being just a TV show. You get up, you play. And then there were the famous jams, where folks like Leonard Cohen and Sonny Rollins are up there together. This is where things got different. Everybody always gives that as an example of how “relaxed and natural” the show was. But you see it on TV, and you can see that shit was not relaxing, or natural. But it worked. You know, you don’t have to pretend it’s something it isn’t for it to be great. And Hal brought that together.

— Arto Lindsay, May 2020