August 1, 2025
Pianist Paul Cornish pays tribute to one of his most important influences, the late, great Geri Allen, with the kinetic new single “Queen Geri” from Cornish’s forthcoming debut album You’re Exaggerating! out August 22. The powerfully lyrical album is a mission statement for Blue Note’s next generation that features Cornish in a trio with bassist Joshua Crumbly and drummer Jonathan Pinson.
“She would bring a more avant-garde and adventurous spirit to more traditional settings, and vice versa,” says Cornish. His homage—inspired by the revered pianist’s piece “Drummer’s Song” from her 1994 Blue Note album Twenty One—is also an investigation of gender issues within jazz. “I do think that some of the most brilliant yet unfortunately overlooked minds in this music have been women,” he says.
Cornish is part of a great heritage of jazz piano that has unfolded at Blue Note, from Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk through Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner, Geri Allen, Jason Moran, and Robert Glasper, to name just a few. He’s also part of a lineage of Blue Note artists who hail from Houston, Texas, and developed at the city’s Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. That more recent hall of fame includes Moran, Glasper, Walter Smith III, Kendrick Scott, Chris Dave and James Francies. Of course, within that list there’s yet another bloodline, of musicians who’ve come to define jazz pianism in the 21st century: Moran, Glasper, Francies and, now, Cornish, who was born and raised in Houston and has been based in Los Angeles for over a decade.
Cornish—whose profile has elevated of late through his work with Joshua Redman including a head-turning sideman appearance on the saxophonist’s new album Words Fall Short—is in many ways the most profound embodiment yet of Blue Note’s regenerative influence, reinforcing the idea that, like the label’s landmark midcentury recordings, Blue Note LPs of recent vintage have had a seismic impact on jazz’s ever-evolving sound. “Those early Robert Glasper records on Blue Note, like Canvas and In My Element, were my first window into this legacy I’m part of,” says Cornish. “I look at Jason Moran as the catalyst. And Glasper took some of that and added a whole other thing to it, and then James took it even further. With each one of us, it evolves and expands.”
Cornish shares with those players a rare duality, having cultivated a unique identity while also evoking radiant bits and pieces of jazz’s past. The nine original compositions presented on You’re Exaggerating! were inspired by personal memories, reflections, and idols. Cornish’s approach, in its even-keeled texture and shrewd harmony, is a sort of mastery that entices rather than merely impresses.
Cornish’s 2025 tour schedule will bring him across the United States and Europe including shows in New York (Dizzy’s, Aug. 28), Los Angeles (The Sun Rose, Sept. 17), London (Ronnie Scott’s, Aug. 25), Paris (Duc des Lombards, Nov. 26), and more. Visit paulcornishmusic.com for more details.
PAUL CORNISH – TOUR DATES:
Aug. 25 – Ronnie Scott’s – London, England
Aug. 28- Dizzy’s – New York, NY
Aug. 29 – The Side Door – Old Lyme, CT
Aug. 31 – Missy Lane’s Assembly Room – Durham, NC
Sept. 1 – Jazz Coterie @ Great Northern Distilling – Stevens Point, WI
Sept. 2 – Jazz Coterie @ Gerold Opera House – Weyauwega, WI
Sept. 3 – The Promontory – Chicago, IL
Sept. 4 – Caffe Vivace – Cincinnati, OH
Sept. 5 – Bop Stop – Cleveland, OH
Sept. 6 – The Jazz Kitchen – Indianapolis, IN
Sept. 11 – Kuumbwa – Santa Cruz, CA
Sept. 13 – Libretto – Paso Robles, CA
Sept. 17 – The Sun Rose – Los Angeles, CA
Oct. 3 – The Break Room – San Jose, CA
Oct. 4 – Piedmont Piano Company – Oakland, CA
Oct. 9 – Jazz TX – San Antonio, TX
Oct. 10 – Monks Jazz Club – Austin, TX
Nov. 21 – Cotton Club – Ascoli Piceno, Italy
Nov. 22 – Jazz Club Ferrara – Ferrara, Italy
Nov. 23 – La Tenda – Modena, Italy
Nov. 24 – Barcelona Jazz Festival – Barcelona, Spain
Nov. 25 – Sala Clamores – Madrid, Spain
Nov. 26 – Duc des Lombards – Paris, France
Nov. 27 – Toots Jazz Club – Brussels, Belgium
Nov. 28 – Izzy Jazz Club – Bruges, Belgium
