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]
John Lissauer | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Summit, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, producer, performer |
| Website | www |
Early life and education
editLissauer 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
editLissauer 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
editLissauer 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
edit| Artist | Release | Label | Credit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leonard Cohen | Various Positions | Columbia | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Leonard Cohen | New Skin for the Old Ceremony | Columbia | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Mary Fahl | Love & Gravity | BMI Publishing | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Mary Fahl | Four Sings | BMI Publishing | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Mary Fahl | The Other Side of Time | Odyssey | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Bette Midler | Songs From the New Depression | Atlantic Records | Arranger/Conductor |
| Loudon Wainwright III | Final Exam | Arista Records | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Loudon Wainwright III | T-shirt | Arista Records | Arranger/Performer |
| Lewis Furey | Lewis Furey | Aquarius Records | Producer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer |
| Lewis Furey | The Sky is Falling | Aquarius Records | Producer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer |
| Tony Bird | Bird of Paradise | Columbia | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Anjani | Blue Alert | Columbia | Arranger/Performer |
| Kiss | Peter Criss Solo Album | Casablanca Records | Conductor |
| The Hotel Orchestra | Swings Digital | A & M Records | Arranger/Performer/Composer |
| Carole Laure | Alibis | RCA Victor | Arranger/Conductor/Performer |
| Carole Laure | She Says Move On | Fnac Music | Arranger/Performer |
| Leata Galloway | Leata | Ariola | Producer/Arranger/Conductor/Performer |
| Clara Ponty | The Embrace | Philips Classics | Co-Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Ayo | Joyful | Polydor Records | Producer/Arranger/Performer |
| Daniel Rodriguez | In The Presence | Blix Street Records | Arranger/Conductor |
| Eddie Brigati | Lost in the Wilderness | Elektra | Arranger/Conductor/Performer |
| Fred Stark | Time After Time | New Central Music Company, LLC | Arranger/Performer |
| Kenny Karen | This Day | Big Tree Records | Arranger/Performer |
| Lisa Gutkin | From Here On In | Independent | Producer/Performer |
| Ten Feet Deep | Ten Feet Deep | Independent | Producer |
Select filmography
editFilms
edit- Threebound (Exit 74 Productions)
- David & Layla (Newroz Films)
- Seven (Cecchi Gori Pictures)
- The Last Godfather (TLG)
- Watchmen (Warner Brothers)
- That Thing You Do! (Clavius Base)
- Pokémon: The First Movie (Oriental Light and Magic)
- Pokémon the Movie 2000 (4 Kids Entertainment)
- Managua (Logo Entertainment)
- Apartment 1303 (Amuse)
- All American Bikini Car Wash (Meridien Films)
- End Call (MonteCristo International Entertainment)
- Gods and Generals (Turner Pictures)
- So This is Christmas (Foster Entertainment)
- Fantastica (E.I. Productions)
- Dark Disciple (Ambassador Motion Pictures)
- The Rubber Gun (St. Lawrence Film Productions)
- L'Ange et la Femme (Films RSL)
- Montreal Main (Canadian Film Development Corporation)
- Beyond Paradise (New Roz Films)
- Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang (1978 film) (Gulkin Productions)
- La Tete de Normande St. Onge (Cinépix)
- Rosewater (Busboy Productions)
- Pikachu's Vacation (Kids' WB)
- Pokémon: Mewtwo Returns (Anime World Osaka)
- Apartment 1303 3D (1303 Productions)
- Pokémon Detective Pikachu (Warner Brothers)
Short films/documentaries
edit- Leonard Cohen: Dance Me to the End of Love (A-Acme Film Works)
- The Truce (Independent, NYU)
- Gone into the Clearing (Veech Productions)
- Remember (Colassalvision)
- På danske læber live (Auditorium)
- Susanna (Hidden Layers)
- Rooster (Jamison Newlander Productions)
- Mickey Lee (Lawnrunner Films)
- Crackshot Stu (Lawnrunner Films)
- Clever Grete (Tabularassa Productions)
- Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Sony)
Television
edit- Pokémon (TV Series) (Pokémon USA)
- Supernova (Hallmark Entertainment)
- Flood: A River’s Rampage (Hallmark Entertainment)
- An American Girl on the Home Front (American Girl)
- No Big Deal (Cinétudes Films)
- Shinchan (JPS Producties; Shin Ei Animation; TV Asahi)
Self
edit- Marianne & Leonard: Words of Love (Sundance)
- Leonard Cohen: Under Review 1934–1977 (Chrome Dreams Media)
- Hallelujah: It Goes Like This (Geller/Goldfine Productions)
- Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (Sony)
Notes
edit- ^ Various Positions was released a year later by an independent label.
References
edit- ^ a b Livingston, Barbara N. (9 Aug 2014). "It's Loverly -- 'My Fair Lady' Estate for Sale". The Journal News, White Plains NY.
- ^ Hertweck, Nate. "Nina Simone, Tom Petty Recordings Among 2019 GRAMMY Hall Of Fame Inductions". grammy.com. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
- ^ "Peter Calo And Anne Carpenter Perform The Sounds Of Joni Mitchell & Paul Simon At WCT". BroadwayWorld.com. 20 Sep 2019. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ a b c d e f Yarnell, Laurie (26 August 2019). "This Local Musician Has Worked With Leonard Cohen, Whitney Houston, and Bette Midler". Westchester Magazine. Retrieved 2019-10-09.
- ^ 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) - ^ a b c d Reynolds, Anthony (2010). Leonard Cohen: A Remarkable Life. Omnibus Press. ISBN 9781849381383.
- ^ Evans, Mike (2018). Leonard Cohen: An Illustrated Record. Plexus. p. 67. ISBN 9780859658690.
- ^ Biese, Alex (August 14, 2022). "NJ producer helped make Cohen's 'Hallelujah' a song everyone knows". Daily Record. pp. C1, C3.