John Lissauer

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John Lissauer
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Background information
Born Summit, New Jersey, U.S.
Occupation(s) Composer, producer, performer
Website www.johnlissauer.com

John Lissauer is an American composer, producer, and performer. At the age of 19, he arranged the first recordings of Al Jarreau. [1] Lissauer went on to produce and arrange a pair of Leonard Cohen albums, including the song "Hallelujah" which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2019. [2] [3] He has been a composer or music producer for record albums, films, and radio and TV commercials. Lissauer received a Clio "Campaign of the Decade" award for his work for Polaroid. [4]

Contents

Early life and education

Lissauer was raised in Hauppauge, New York. From age 11 until he graduated from Yale College, Lissauer studied with Joseph Allard at the Juilliard School. Lissauer attended Yale University and graduated with honors in music. [4]

Career

Lissauer plays piano, flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, and saxophone. He began arranging music for Al Jarreau while still at Yale. He taught at Yale for a year, and then became a session piano player. [4]

As a composer and music producer, he has worked with Al Jarreau, Bette Midler, Whitney Houston, and Luther Vandross. [4]

In Canada to produce a record for Lewis Furey, Lissauer was approached by Cohen at a Furey concert. The two met again several weeks later in New York to produce the New Skin for the Old Ceremony album. [5] John Miller, who played bass on the album, described Lissauer's approach to music as "very particular, European, simple but complex, highly imaginative". [6] : 118 New Skin for the Old Ceremony would make the Top Thirty in the United Kingdom. [7]

After the album was completed, Cohen appointed Lissauer as the musical director for his next two tours; Lissauer played piano, organ, saxophone, and percussion on the tours. [6] : 124 

In 1983, Lissauer again worked with Cohen to produce the album Various Positions , including the arrangement of "Hallelujah", which would go on to become one of the most recorded songs of its time. Disappointed when Columbia Records decided against a U.S. release of the album, Lissauer decided to focus his efforts on composing for films and TV. [a] [6] : 184–195 

Although he had given up record producing, in 2006 Lissauer arranged several songs on Blue Alert by Anjani as a favor for Cohen. [6] : 279 

In 2022, Lissauer appeared in the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song, and composed the score. [8]

Personal life

Lissauer was married to Erin Dickins, with whom he restored an overgrown 35-acre property an hour north of New York City that had been owned previously by composer Frederick Loewe. [1] [4] In 1984, he married Lilian, with whom he had one son. [4]

Select composer/production discography

ArtistReleaseLabelCredit
Leonard Cohen Various Positions ColumbiaProducer/Arranger/Performer
Leonard Cohen New Skin for the Old Ceremony ColumbiaProducer/Arranger/Performer
Mary Fahl Love & Gravity BMI PublishingProducer/Arranger/Performer
Mary Fahl Four Sings BMI PublishingProducer/Arranger/Performer
Mary Fahl The Other Side of TimeOdysseyProducer/Arranger/Performer
Bette Midler Songs From the New DepressionAtlantic RecordsArranger/Conductor
Loudon Wainwright III Final ExamArista RecordsProducer/Arranger/Performer
Loudon Wainwright III T-shirtArista RecordsArranger/Performer
Lewis Furey Lewis FureyAquarius RecordsProducer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer
Lewis Furey The Sky is FallingAquarius RecordsProducer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer
Tony Bird Bird of ParadiseColumbiaProducer/Arranger/Performer
Anjani Blue AlertColumbiaArranger/Performer
KissPeter Criss Solo AlbumCasablanca RecordsConductor
The Hotel OrchestraSwings DigitalA & M RecordsArranger/Performer/Composer
Carole Laure AlibisRCA VictorArranger/Conductor/Performer
Carole Laure She Says Move OnFnac MusicArranger/Performer
Leata GallowayLeataAriolaProducer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer
Clara Ponty The EmbracePhilips ClassicsCo-Producer/Arranger/Performer
AyoJoyfulPolydor RecordsProducer/Arranger/Performer
Daniel RodriguezIn The PresenceBlix Street RecordsArranger/Conductor
Eddie Brigati Lost in the WildernessElektraArranger/Conductor/Performer
Fred StarkTime After TimeNew Central Music Company, LLCArranger/Performer
Kenny KarenThis DayBig Tree RecordsArranger/Performer
Lisa Gutkin From Here On InIndependentProducer/Performer
Ten Feet DeepTen Feet DeepIndependentProducer

Select filmography

Films

Short films/documentaries

Television

Self

Notes

  1. ↑ Various Positions was released a year later by an independent label.

References

  1. 1 2 Livingston, Barbara N. (9 Aug 2014). "It's Loverly -- 'My Fair Lady' Estate for Sale". The Journal News, White Plains NY.
  2. ↑ Hertweck, Nate. "Nina Simone, Tom Petty Recordings Among 2019 GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Inductions". grammy.com. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  3. ↑ "Peter Calo And Anne Carpenter Perform The Sounds Of Joni Mitchell & Paul Simon At WCT". BroadwayWorld.com. 20 Sep 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Yarnell, Laurie (26 August 2019). "This Local Musician Has Worked With Leonard Cohen, Whitney Houston, and Bette Midler". Westchester Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
  5. ↑ Leibovitz, Liel (2014). A Broken Hallelujah : Rock and Roll, Redemption, and the Life of Leonard Cohen. New York. pp. 188–190. ISBN   978-0-393-08205-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. 1 2 3 4 Reynolds, Anthony (2010). Leonard Cohen: A Remarkable Life. Omnibus Press. ISBN   9781849381383.
  7. ↑ Evans, Mike (2018). Leonard Cohen: An Illustrated Record. Plexus. p. 67. ISBN   9780859658690.
  8. ↑ Biese, Alex (August 14, 2022). "NJ producer helped make Cohen's 'Hallelujah' a song everyone knows". Daily Record. pp. C1, C3.
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