Various Artists:
Hal Willner Presents Weird Nightmares
Meditations on Mingus

On this installment of Hal Willner's series of tribute albums, Willner assembled a house band for his guests (including Keith Richards, Chuck D, Elvis Costello, Bill Frisell, Vernon Reid, Charlie Watts, Gary Lucas, Leonard Cohen, and Henry Rollins) to sit in with. Weird Nightmares - Meditations on Mingus is predictably uneven and wildly entertaining; it is a fitting tribute to the genius of Charles Mingus.
-- All-Music Guide

Robbie Robertson narrates one track, "Canon (Part II)" (3:15).

Tracks

1. Canon (Part I)
2. Meditation on Integration
3. Canon (Part II)
4. Jump Monk
5. Weird Nightmare
6. Work Song
7. Self-Portrait in 3 Colors
8. Purple Heart
9. Tonight at Noon
10. Gunslinging Bird Or If Charlie Parker Were A Gunslinger, There'd Be A Whole Lot Of Dead Copycats
11. Weird Nightmare Interlude
12. Another Weird Nightmare Interlude
13. Medley:
    - Reincarnation of a Love Bird
    - Haitian Fight Song Montage
14. Open Letter to Duke
15. The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers
16. Oh Lord Don't Let Them Drop That Atomic Bomb on Me
17. Eclipse
18. Gala
19. Pithecanthropus Erectus
20. Freedom
21. Weird Nightmare

Sidemen

• Don Byron
• Leonard Cohen
• Elvis Costello
• Chuck D.
• Bill Frisell
• Diamanda Galas
• Dr. John
• Bobby Previte
• Vernon Reid
• Keith Richards
• Robbie Robertson
• Henry Rollins
• Henry Threadgill
• Charlie Watts

Various Artists - Hal Willner Presents Weird Nightmares: Meditations on Mingus - 74:09 - 1992 - Columbia 52739

AMG Rating: 9 (out of 9)