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Hi, I’m

Rick Cornish

I compose and arrange.

 

 

Just Released

I’m excited to announce the release of my new jazz guitar album, “Solo.”

You’ll hear my original, unaccompanied guitar interpretations of tunes from the Great American Songbook, themes from the hard bop era, a beloved traditional song, and an original composition. 

“Solo” is now available on 150 streaming platforms, Amazon, and the iTunes Store. (Click here to listen.)

And check out my interview with Jazz 88’s Phil Nusbaum here.

Printed scores will also be available soon.

  1. Air from County Derry (Danny Boy) (Traditional) 3:04
  2. Beautiful Love (King, Young, Van Alstyne, Gillespie) 4:15
  3. Stella by Starlight (for Lyle) (Victor Young) 2:51
  4. You Don’t Know What Love Is (Raye, de Paul) 5:23
  5. Dreamsville (Mancini, Livingston, Evans) 3:24
  6. The Days of Wine and Roses (Mancini, Mercer) 2:44
  7. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most (Wolf, Landesman) 6:14
  8. Stolen Moments (Oliver Nelson) 4:42
  9. Soul Eyes  (Mal Waldron) 3:06
  10. Seven Songs for Guitar (Rick Cornish) 6:08

All tracks arranged and performed by Rick Cornish 
Recorded and mixed at Rick’s studio in the woods
Mastered by Piper Payne at Neato Mastering

© Rick Cornish LLC 2024

about

After decades of creating and performing music and other creative pursuits; today, my focus is on composing and recording downtempo, ambient jazz and solo guitar music.

My story in a dozen bullet points:

  • Grew up in the Minneapolis area. Lots of great music people around.
  • Took up the guitar at age 15, won a scholarship to music school (North Texas State), where I studied privately with the great Jack Petersen and played with the famed 1:00 Lab Band and guests Thad Jones & Mel Lewis, Patrick Williams, and Tony Bennett.
  • Went on the road with showbusiness acts and touring Broadway shows. Led the band for a tour of “Godspell.”
  • Moved to Las Vegas, where I worked with legends like Pearl Bailey, Mitzi Gaynor, Dean Martin, and more.
  • Returned to Minneapolis. Worked in studios (Sound 80, Cookhouse, Creation Audio, New Life) and backed Joel Grey, Julie Andrews, “Doc” Severinson, Paul Williams, Teresa Brewer, Margaret Whiting, and Bob Hope. Also produced recordings for Rockie Robbins, Josh Weaver, and others.
  • Featured soloist with the Minnesota Orchestra on their staging of the music from Abba’s musical, “Chess” and performed with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
  • Performed with jazz greats Bobby Hackett, Louis Bellson, Brother Jack McDuff, and Julian Priester
  • Played in touring regional rock and R&B bands: The Mystics, Good Vibrations, Class Action, Lover, and Zenner
  • Composed music for film, TV, and advertising, along with a few big band charts (published by Steve Wright Music Endeavors), and an orchestral composition which was premiered by the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra.
  • Took a position as an audio engineer at a video production company. Advanced to Creative Director.
  • Left to start “Flying Colors”—an award-winning video and event production company.
  • Today, I’m back to composing, performing, and recording music; including my new solo jazz guitar album: [solo].

sounds

Here are a few tracks I’ve been working on.

“Air from County Derry”

Solo Guitar

“Here’s That Rainy Day”

Solo Guitar

“Song for Friday”

Seven Songs for Guitar

Snowflakes on Broadway

Downtempo Ambient Jazz

After Hours

Solo Guitar

Your Action Plan

Video Score

Ideas that Move People

Video Score

Carol of the Bells

Holiday Chillout 07

Ballade

Big Band Composition

Blues Around the Corner

Big Band Composition

stuff

FOR THOSE WHO MAY BE INTERESTED…

I have stuff.

Computer stuff. Software stuff. Recording stuff. Guitar stuff. Mixing stuff.

For example…

COMPUTER HARDWARE
M2 Mac Studio with 64GB RAM, 2tB flash storage + two, 2tB ext. Thunderbolt 4 SSDs
32″ UHD display
2022 MacBook Pro 13″
MUSIC & VIDEO SOFTWARE
MOTU Digital Performer
Virtual Instruments from MOTU, Spectrasonics, Native Instruments (Komplete), UVI, 8dio, Rob Papen, Soniccouture, Soundiron, East West, Spitfire Audio, Heavyocity, Vir2, Zero-G, and more
Waves, Brainworx, Wavesfactory, Vengeance, Eventide, SPL, PSP, UVI, Valhalla DSP, Kush Audio, AudioThing, Final Mix, IK Multimedia, iZotope, and other assorted effect plug-ins
Finale
Avid MediaComposer
Apple Compressor
STUDIO HARDWARE
Roland A-88 keyboard controller
Apogee Quartet audio interface
Genelec 1032a monitors (+1092 sub)
Westlake BBSM4 monitors
Dorrough 20-A2 analog loudness meter
Neumann TLM-103 and Shure SM-57 mics
Focusrite Platinum VoiceMaster mic pre-amp
iCON Platform Nano controller
AKG K712 and Apple AirPods Max headphones
GUITAR RIG
Gibson Howard Roberts Fusion III (modified by Ron Tracy at St. Paul Guitar Repair)
Fender ’65 Deluxe Reverb guitar amp (modified by Carl’s Custom Amps)
Roland Cube 60 guitar amp
Roland GP-100 Guitar Preamp/Processor
Pedalboard from Accel Audio with pedals by T-Rex, Pettyjohn, Wren & Cuff, JHS, Wampler, Moorer, Universal Audio, and Fulltone

Contact

 From way northern Minnesota, USA

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