A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

s of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.

There have been tributes or covers recorded since before the first albums became technically feasible; Enrico Caruso's 1907 recordings of Ruggero Leoncavallo

Ruggero Leoncavallo

Ruggero Leoncavallo was an Italian opera composer. His two-act work Pagliacci remains one of the most popular works in the repertory, appearing as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide.-Biography:...

's opera Pagliacci

Pagliacci

Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...

are one early example. The birth of the 'modern' tribute album is often credited to record producer

Record producer

A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

 Hal Willner

Hal Willner

Hal Willner is an American music producer working in recording, films, TV and live events. He is best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical styles...

 with the Amarcord Nino Rota

Nino Rota

Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...

LP in 1981

1981 in music

See also:* Timeline of musical eventsThis is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1981.-January–April:*January 10 – A revival of the Gilbert and Sullivan operetta The Pirates of Penzance opens at Broadway's Uris Theatre, starring Linda Ronstadt and Rex Smith.*January 24 –...

. He followed up with tributes to Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

, Disney

Walt Disney Pictures

Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

 cartoons, Kurt Weill

Kurt Weill

Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...

, Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus

Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...

 and Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen

Harold Arlen was an American composer of popular music, having written over 500 songs, a number of which have become known the world over. In addition to composing the songs for The Wizard of Oz, including the classic 1938 song, "Over the Rainbow,” Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the...

.

Some tribute albums are created with a further conceptual twist than a simple collection of covers. These include:

• Albums which aid the artist whose work is being covered. These include Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson
  Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson
  Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson is a 1990 tribute album to singer-songwriter Roky Erickson, founder of the 13th Floor Elevators and solo artist, whose career has been subject to significant periods of challenge from schizophrenia. The album was released by Sire Records...
  
  , whose cult fame
  Cult following
  A cult following is a group of fans who are highly dedicated to a specific area of pop culture. A film, book, band, or video game, among other things, will be said to have a cult following when it has a small but very passionate fan base...
  
   has not led to financial success, as well as the 2CD Orphans of God
  Orphans of God
  Orphans of God is a 2 CD compilation of songs performed by various artists in tribute to songwriter Mark Heard.Recorded and released after Heard's death in 1992, proceeds benefit the Heard Family Fund....
  
  , a tribute to Mark Heard
  Mark Heard
  John Mark Heard was a record producer, folk-rock singer, and songwriter originally from Macon, Georgia, USA....
  
  , a singer/songwriter whose work has been praised by fellow artists such as Bruce Cockburn, Victoria Williams, Sam Phillips and T-Bone Burnett. Victoria Williams
  Victoria Williams
  Victoria Williams is an American singer-songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. She is noted for her descriptive songwriting talent, which she has used to immerse the listener of her songs into a...
  
   is also the subject of such a tribute CD, titled Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
  Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
  Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams is a 1993 tribute album that features a variety of alternative rock bands covering songs written by Victoria Williams...
  
  .
• Albums consisting of one artist performing only songs by another artist, such as Great Zeppelin, a tribute album for Led Zeppelin
  Led Zeppelin
  Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
  
  , performed solely by Great White
  Great White
  Great White is an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1978. The band gained popularity during the 1980s and early 1990s. The band released several albums in the late 1980s and gained airplay on MTV with music videos for songs like "Once Bitten, Twice Shy"...
  
   or Wicked Grin, a collection of Tom Waits
  Tom Waits
  Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
  
   songs performed by John Hammond Jr.. The Persuasions
  The Persuasions
  The Persuasions are an a cappella group that began singing together in Brooklyn, New York in the mid 1960s. They have performed interpretations of both secular and non-secular music, and have covered a wide range of musical genres....
  
  , The Inmates
  The Inmates
  The Inmates are a British garage rock/pub rock band, formed after the split up of The Flying Tigers in 1977. In the early 1980s, they had a medium sized international hit with a cover of The Standells' "Dirty Water", and a UK Top 40 hit with "The Walk"...
  
  , Les Fradkin
  Les Fradkin
  Les Fradkin is a guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show Beatlemania...
  
  , The Smithereens
  The Smithereens
  The Smithereens are a rock band from Carteret, New Jersey, United States. The group formed in 1980 with members Pat DiNizio , Jim Babjak , Mike Mesaros , and Dennis Diken...
  
  , Laibach
  Laibach (band)
  Laibach is a Slovenian avant-garde music group associated with industrial, martial, and neo-classical musical styles. Laibach formed June 1, 1980 in Trbovlje, Slovenia . Laibach represents the music wing of the Neue Slowenische Kunst art collective, of which it was a founding member in 1984...
  
   and Overboard
  Overboard (a cappella)
  Overboard is a male a cappella group based in Boston, MA. The group's repertoire consists of a cappella covers of popular contemporary pop/rock artists, such as Train, The Script, and Rascal Flatts, and of a cappella standards, such as "Blue Moon", "In the Still of the Night" and "Stand by Me".-...
  
   have each recorded tribute CDs entirely consisting of songs by The Beatles
  The Beatles
  The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
  
  .
• Albums consisting of cover songs performed in a different style of music than that of their original performers. These include Is It Rolling Bob?: A Reggae
  Reggae
  Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
  
   Tribute to Bob Dylan
  Bob Dylan
  Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
  
  and Goth Oddity 2000: A Tribute to David Bowie
  David Bowie
  David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
  
  , as well as the Pickin' On... and String Quartet
  The String Quartet Tribute
  The Vitamin String Quartet is a group of Los Angeles musicians widely known for its series of tribute albums to rock and pop acts. Their albums are released through Vitamin Records and primarily performed by a string quartet, though other instruments have been used...
  
  series of instrumental
  Instrumental
  An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
  
   artist tributes done bluegrass
  Bluegrass music
  Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a sub-genre of country music. It has mixed roots in Scottish, English, Welsh and Irish traditional music...
  
   and classical
  Classical music
  Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
  
   style, respectively. Other examples include reggae, Cuban and ambient lounge compilations consisting solely of songs by The Beatles
  The Beatles
  The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
  
  , such as the a cappella
  A cappella
  A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
  
   album Help! by the group Overboard
  Overboard (a cappella)
  Overboard is a male a cappella group based in Boston, MA. The group's repertoire consists of a cappella covers of popular contemporary pop/rock artists, such as Train, The Script, and Rascal Flatts, and of a cappella standards, such as "Blue Moon", "In the Still of the Night" and "Stand by Me".-...
  
  . Another good example is The Songs of West Side Story, a compilation of 1990s style covers of songs from Leonard Bernstein
  Leonard Bernstein
  Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
  
  's musical
  Musical theatre
  Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
  
   West Side Story
  West Side Story
  West Side Story is an American musical with a script by Arthur Laurents, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and choreographed by Jerome Robbins...
  
  that was released by RCA Victor and features prominent artists of the time, such as Salt-n-Pepa
  Salt-N-Pepa
  Salt-N-Pepa is an American hip hop trio from Queens and Brooklyn, New York, that was formed in 1985. The group, consisting of Cheryl "Salt" Renee James, Sandra "Pepa" Denton, and Deidra "DJ Spinderella" Roper, was one of the first all-female rap crews....
  
  , Michael McDonald
  Michael McDonald (singer)
  Michael McDonald is a five-time Grammy Award winning American singer and songwriter. McDonald is known for a soulful baritone singing style and a multi-octave range. He began his career singing back-up vocals with Steely Dan...
  
  , Chick Corea
  Chick Corea
  Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
  
  , and even non-musical guests such as The Jerky Boys.
• Albums which recreate a specific album with cover versions of songs from that album. These include Legacy: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
  Fleetwood Mac
  Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
  
  's Rumours
  Rumours
  Rumours is the eleventh studio album by British-American rock band Fleetwood Mac. Largely recorded in California during 1976, it was produced by the band with Ken Caillat and Richard Dashut and was released on 4 February 1977 by Warner Bros. Records. The record peaked at the top of both the...
  
  , Booker T. & the M.G.'s
  Booker T. & the M.G.'s
  Booker T. & the M.G.'s is an instrumental R&B band that was influential in shaping the sound of southern soul and Memphis soul. Original members of the group were Booker T. Jones , Steve Cropper , Lewie Steinberg , and Al Jackson, Jr....
  
  ' McLemore Avenue, which covers all the songs from The Beatles
  The Beatles
  The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
  
  ' Abbey Road, Les Fradkin
  Les Fradkin
  Les Fradkin is a guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He is best known for being a member of the original cast of the hit Broadway show Beatlemania...
  
   "Pepper Front To Back" which covers the entire "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album as a CD of guitar
  Guitar
  The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
  
   instrumental rock
  Instrumental rock
  Instrumental rock is a type of rock music which emphasizes musical instruments, and which features very little or no singing.Examples of instrumental rock can be found in practically every subgenre of rock, often from musicians who specialize in the style, most notably Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Link...
  
   and More Oar: A Tribute to Alexander "Skip" Spence
  Skip Spence
  Alexander Lee "Skip" Spence was a Canadian-born musician and singer-songwriter. He was co-founder of Moby Grape, and played guitar with them until 1969. He released one solo album, 1969's Oar, and then largely withdrew from the music industry...
  
  , which recreates Spence's only album Oar.
• Albums consisting of cover songs sung in another language. These include Tributo a the Cure
  The Cure
  The Cure are an English rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member...
  
   - Porque No Puedo Ser Tu (1999) and Tributo a Queen: Los Grandes del Rock en Español (1997).
• Albums consisting of cover songs performed by artists who influenced the band being covered, rather than those influenced by that band. These include Sharin' in the Groove: Celebrating the Music of Phish
  Sharin' in the Groove
  Sharin' in the Groove: Celebrating the Music of Phish is an all-star charity Phish tribute album featuring 23 acts covering 20 Phish songs, all on a volunteer basis, to fund , under the auspices of the Mockingbird Foundation...
  
  .
• Albums made to commemorate the loss of a cherished artist. These include So Amazing: A Tribute to Luther Vandross, recorded shortly after his death.

Some albums titled and marketed as "tributes" to well-known musical figures are effectively sound-alike

Sound-alike

A sound-alike is a recording intended to imitate the sound of a popular record, the style of a popular recording artist, or a current musical trend; the term also refers to the artists who perform on such recordings. In the voice-over world, it may also refer to those who recreate the voice and...

s or knock-offs

Counterfeit

To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...

, recorded by anonymous session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

s or performers of no distinction.

Selective chronological list

1900-1949

1950-1969

• 1951 Fats Waller
  Fats Waller
  Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
  
   Memorial Set, Earl Hines
  Earl Hines
  Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...
  
  
• 1953 The Fats Waller Songbook, Andre Previn
  André Previn
  André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
  
  
• 1954 Louis Armstrong Plays W. C. Handy
• 1955 Woody Guthrie's Blues
  Woody Guthrie's Blues
  Woody Guthrie's Blues is an album by American folk musician Ramblin' Jack Elliott, released in 1955 in Great Britain.-Reissues:Woody Guthrie's Blues was originally issued as a 8-inch LP with 6 songs. The track order was changed and additional tracks were added for the 1963 LP reissue as Talking...
  
  , Ramblin' Jack Elliott
  Ramblin' Jack Elliott
  Ramblin' Jack Elliott is an American folk singer and performer.-Life and career:Elliot Charles Adnopoz was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish parents in 1931. Elliott grew up inspired by the rodeos at Madison Square Garden, and wanted to be a cowboy...
  
  
• 1955 Thelonious Monk plays the Music of Duke Ellington
  Thelonious Monk Plays the Music of Duke Ellington
  Thelonious Monk Plays Duke Ellington is a 1955 album by Thelonious Monk, comprising his recordings of well-known songs by Duke Ellington. It was Monk's first album to be released by Riverside Records....
  
  
• 1955 Satch Plays Fats, Louis Armstrong
  Louis Armstrong
  Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
  
  
• 1956 Shades of Bix
  Bix Beiderbecke
  Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
  
  , Jimmy McPartland
  Jimmy McPartland
  James Dugald McPartland , better known as Jimmy McPartland, was an American cornetist and one of the originators of Chicago Jazz...
  
  
• 1959 Songs of Hank Williams, Joni James
  Joni James
  Joni James is an American singer of traditional pop music and jazz standards.-Biography:...
  
  
• 1960 Mario Lanza Sings Caruso Favorites, Mario Lanza
  Mario Lanza
  right|thumb|[[MGM]] still, circa 1949Mario Lanza was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star of the late 1940s and the 1950s. The son of Italian emigrants, he began studying to be a professional singer at the age of 16....
  
  
• 1960 George Jones Salutes Hank Williams
  George Jones Salutes Hank Williams
  George Jones Salutes Hank Williams is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released in 1960 on the Mercury Records label.- Track listing :All songs written by Hank Williams except where noted.# "Cold, Cold Heart" – 3:20...
  
  
• 1961 I Remember Tommy
  I Remember Tommy
  I Remember Tommy... is an album by Frank Sinatra, released in 1961. It was recorded as a tribute to bandleader Tommy Dorsey, and consists of re-recorded versions of songs that Sinatra had first performed or recorded with Dorsey earlier in his career...
  
  , Frank Sinatra
  Frank Sinatra
  Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
  
  
• 1961 Trav'lin' Light
  Trav'lin' Light (Anita O'Day album)
  Trav'lin' Light is an album by Anita O'Day released in 1961. It was a tribute to her idol Billie Holiday. It was recorded January 18 and 19, 1961, in Los Angeles, California. It was released on Norman Granz's Verve record label...
  
  , Anita O'Day
• 1962 George Jones Sings Bob Wills
  George Jones Sings Bob Wills
  George Jones Sings Bob Wills is an album by American country music artist George Jones. This album was released in 1962 on the United Artists Records...
  
  
• 1962 Nina Simone Sings Ellington
  Nina Simone Sings Ellington
  Nina Simone Sings Ellington is an album by American singer and pianist Nina Simone. The album contains songs that were originally composed and recorded by Duke Ellington.- About the cover :...
  
  
• 1965 Frankly Basie: Count Basie Plays the Hits of Frank Sinatra
  Frank Sinatra
  Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
  
  , Count Basie
  Count Basie
  William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
  
  

1970-1979

• 1970 McLemore Avenue
  McLemore Avenue
  McLemore Avenue is a 1970 album by Booker T. & the MGs consisting entirely of mostly instrumental covers of songs from the Beatles' album Abbey Road...
  
  , Booker T. & the M.G.'s
• 1970 A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills), Merle Haggard
• 1977 My Farewell to Elvis
  My Farewell to Elvis
  My Farewell to Elvis is an album by American country singer Merle Haggard, released in 1977. It reached Number 6 on the Country album chart. The single "From Graceland to the Promised Land" reached number 4 on the Billboard Country Singles chart...
  
  , Merle Haggard
• 1977 I Remember Patsy
  Patsy Cline
  Patsy Cline , born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Gore, Virginia, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s...
  
  , Loretta Lynn
  Loretta Lynn
  Loretta Lynn is an American country music singer-songwriter, author and philanthropist. Born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky to a coal miner father, Lynn married at 13 years old, was a mother soon after, and moved to Washington with her husband, Oliver Lynn. Their marriage was sometimes tumultuous; he...
  
  
• 1979 Willie Nelson
  Willie Nelson
  Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
  
   Sings Kristofferson
  Sings Kristofferson
  Sings Kristofferson is a studio album recorded by Willie Nelson in 1979 consisting of all covers of Kris Kristofferson songs. The record reached number 5 on the U.S. Country albums chart, number 42 on the U.S. Pop albums charts, was certified Gold in Canada and platinum in the U.S...
  
  

1980-1989

• 1980 Jerry Reed Sings Jim Croce
  Jerry Reed Sings Jim Croce
  Jerry Reed Sings Jim Croce is an album by American country music singer Jerry Reed, released in 1980. The album is a tribute album for Jim Croce who died in 1973 in a plane crash during the peak of his career. Seven of the ten songs were singles released by Croce. The album peaked at number 56 on...
  
  , Jerry Reed
• 1981 Amarcord Nino Rota
  Nino Rota
  Nino Rota was an Italian composer and academic who is best known for his film scores, notably for the films of Federico Fellini and Luchino Visconti...
  
  , various artists, producer Hal Willner
  Hal Willner
  Hal Willner is an American music producer working in recording, films, TV and live events. He is best known for assembling tribute albums and events featuring a wide variety of artists and musical styles...
  
  
• 1985 The Big Gundown
  The Big Gundown (album)
  The Big Gundown is an album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn. It comprises radically reworked covers of tracks by the Italian film composer Ennio Morricone....
  
  , John Zorn
• 1989 Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman
  Spy vs Spy (album)
  Spy vs Spy: The Music of Ornette Coleman is a 1989 album by American composer and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist John Zorn, featuring the compositions of Ornette Coleman performed in the brief intense style of Zorn's hardcore miniatures....
  
  , John Zorn
• 1984 That's The Way I Feel Now: A Tribute to Thelonious Monk, various artists, producer Hal Willner
• 1985 Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
  Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill
  Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill is a 1985 tribute album to German-American composer Kurt Weill. It was executive-produced by Hal Willner and John Telfer, and produced by Hal Willner and Paul M...
  
  , various artists, producer Hal Willner
• 1988 Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films, various artists, producer Hal Willner

1990-1999

• 1990 Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson
  Where the Pyramid Meets the Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson
  Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye: A Tribute to Roky Erickson is a 1990 tribute album to singer-songwriter Roky Erickson, founder of the 13th Floor Elevators and solo artist, whose career has been subject to significant periods of challenge from schizophrenia. The album was released by Sire Records...
  
  , various artists
• 1992 Weird Nightmare: Meditations on Mingus
  Charles Mingus
  Charles Mingus Jr. was an American jazz musician, composer, bandleader, and civil rights activist.Mingus's compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music...
  
  , various artists, producer Hal Willner
• 1992 Red Hot + Dance
  Red Hot + Dance
  Red Hot + Dance is an album produced by the Red Hot Organization, an organization dedicated to raising money and awareness to fight the onslaught of HIV/AIDS....
  
  , various artists
• 1993 Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
  Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams
  Sweet Relief: A Benefit for Victoria Williams is a 1993 tribute album that features a variety of alternative rock bands covering songs written by Victoria Williams...
  
  , various artists
• 1993 Red Hot + Blue
  Red Hot + Blue
  Red Hot + Blue is the first in the series of compilation albums from the Red Hot Organization. The recording was the first in the Red Hot Benefit Series...
  
  , various artists
• 1994 Red Hot + Country
  Red Hot + Country
  Red Hot + Country was the follow-up to No Alternative in the Red Hot Series of compilation albums, a series produced to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues...
  
  , various artists
• 1995 Intoxicated Man
  Intoxicated Man
  Intoxicated Man is the first of two albums by Mick Harvey, presenting the songs of Serge Gainsbourg, sung in English. It is followed by Pink Elephants.-Track listing:#"69 Erotic Year " – 3:28...
  
  , Mick Harvey
• 1995 September Songs: The Music of Kurt Weill, various artists, producer Hal Willner
• 1996 Red Hot + Rio
  Red Hot + Rio
  Red Hot + Rio is a compilation album produced by Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa nova sound, especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim...
  
  , various artists
• 1997 Black Night - Deep Purple According To New York, various artists
• 1999 Burning London: The Clash Tribute
  Burning London: The Clash Tribute
  - External links :* Neva Chonin, Aidin Vaziri, Colin Berry, Gary Graff, David Wiegand, Dan Ouellette, Amanda Nowinski . . Collection. SFGate.* Keith Phipps . . Review. The A.V. Club.* Scott Schinder . . Pulse....
  
  , various artists
• 1999 More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
  More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album
  More Oar: A Tribute to the Skip Spence Album is a 1999 tribute album completed shortly before and released shortly after the death of Moby Grape founding member Skip Spence. The album contains cover versions by various artists of Spence's music from his Oar album, released in 1969, presented in...
  
  , various artists

2000-current

• see List of tribute albums