SING ALONG WITH WALT: Producer Hal Willner...

SING ALONG WITH WALT: Producer Hal Willner has become known for such projects as the 1985 album “Lost in the Stars,” which had musicians as diverse as Sting, Lou Reed, the Armadillo String Quartet and Charlie Haden performing the music of Kurt Weill. Before that, Willner was responsible for varied, critically acclaimed anthologies devoted to Thelonious Monk and Nino Rota.

Willner is now at work on his next project, which will be out on A&M; Records next year--but this time he’s devoting the LP not to a serious composer or songwriter who’s been overlooked by pop music fans but to music that almost everybody heard in their youth. Willner’s next LP will be devoted to songs from Walt Disney movies, performed by the likes of Tom Waits, Los Lobos, Harry Nilsson (singing “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah”) and Ringo Starr, who during a particularly intriguing recent session found himself singing Jiminy Cricket’s theme song, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” over a lush string arrangement and a trumpet solo by Herb Alpert.