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"In the grand tradition of those who mourned Charlie
Parker in March 1955,
and in lieu of the proverbial brick wall and spray paint adage, I post
unto you:
CORNELIUS LIVES
Question: Hey, who needed a guy that played with the
flair and fire of Sonny Rollins, the bite of Jackie McLean,
and the tasteful understatement of Wayne Shorter?
Answer: We all did."
Randy
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"Cornelius always came onto the stage as if he felt privileged to be
there.
He treated everyone around him like an equal, though most around him
considered him a genius. He listened to you play and appreciated your
musicianship. He never complained, raised a voice, nor one-upped.
He was the quiet one on stage. He had an air about him that
made you feel like he was just happy to play..."
C Day
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you could just tell in his posture and how he held and admired his
sax that
this man breathed music and never needed to be in the limelight
wormom, new orleans
2/4/04
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The first time I met Cornelius was working on a film
soundtrack for Rusty
Cloud. Rusty had Cornelius come in to overdub a sax solo on this track.
We
were stacking musicians up all day sometimes just giving them an hour to
play something and on to the next part, solo, or whatever with the next
player, sort of a creative assembly line. Well, Cornelius comes in,
takes
off his coat, gets a verbal idea of what we want and proceeds to play
this
amazingly beautiful, indeed perfect statement on the first take. Rusty
and I
looked at each other and just agreed that nothing else was needed. He
was at
the studio for about fifteen minutes including taking off the coat and
bantering. If not for Cornelius' warmth and heart it would have been
intimidating. As a matter of fact, the warmth and heart was what made his
solo so captivating.
He was pure music.
Tim Ouimette
New York
2/5/04
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. . .the elegant simplicity of the outer man and the
lyrical joy inside while
playing . . .seems like he understood the ability of this kind of music
to
reveal pure joy . . . Cornelius tithed with his sax and his presence. .
.
Doc Mu
2/4/04
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