July 11, 2025
Pianist Paul Cornish is set to release his stunning Blue Note debut You’re Exaggerating! on August 22, a powerfully lyrical album featuring bassist Joshua Crumbly and drummer Jonathan Pinson with a special guest appearance by guitarist Jeff Parker on the new single “Palindrome” out today. A mission statement for Blue Note’s next generation, You’re Exaggerating! is available for pre-order now on Blue Note Store exclusive color vinyl, black vinyl, CD, and digital download.
Cornish has also announced an extensive 2025 tour schedule that 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.
Cornish is part of a great heritage of jazz piano that has unfolded at Blue Note Records, 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. Helmed by a generous, uplifting bandleader, the trio gels into a unified whole with Crumbly’s nimble, assured bass and Pinson’s nuanced, kinetic drumming. Watch a live performance of the album’s lead single “Dinosaur Song” below.
