Cornell
Pop / R&B / Jazz
New York
Allison's new solo
album is a mixture of
jazz infused pop,
with almost
something for
everyone. She's a
masterful chameleon
- effectively
incorporating R&B,
Pop, Dance, Jazz
and even Americana.
Welcome to Richmond! Describe your music style, if someone has never been to one of your
shows, what can they expect?
Thanks for the welcome to a great town! The solo show I'm doing centers around the pop and
smooth r&b ballads, played on the piano. I have a few songs I can do on acoustic guitar that are in
the americana genre. I also enlist the help of my laptop to accompany me, with custom made
mixes I do at home to take on the road so people hear and know a little more about how the album
sounds.
Tell me about the moment when you realized you wanted to make music an in important part of
your life?
I don't know if I had a moment... It was gradual from the age of 7, because that's when I saw the
violin demonstrated at school and fell in love with it, but I was a natural singer from infancy and
since it is such a natural activity, it took a minute to figure out that there was a career path
associated with it.
Growing up, was there anyone in your personal life that influenced you musically?
My violin teacher until I was 12, then a slew of great teachers in High School and College. Then I
met Leonard Bernstein right before I moved to NY to go to Juilliard. I was playing viola in an
orchestra that he was supervising and we got to know each other a tiny bit. When he heard me at
a late night party, he encouraged me a lot, to keep singing. Anyway, I hung on his every word
and it fueled my passion for popular music that ran concurrently with my studies at Juilliard.
You have such a diverse background and have
toured with many music legends, such as:
Joe Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Shania Twain,
Angelique Kidjo, Jann Arden, Tracy Chapman,
Pat Benatar, Ann-Margret and Ronnie Spector.
What did you take away from these
experiences?
Well, there are many elements involved that
put an artist in a position of power like the ones
that I've toured with. Lots of people work really
hard and have talent, but don't get as far as
those individuals. Now, when you take into
consideration the number of people that get
lucky and pop through to the mainstream, only
the select few have the stamina and courage
to keep it going. I have learned to admire the
intelligence and hard work behind keeping
You have recorded with Cyndi Lauper, Jann Arden, Pat Benatar, Joe Jackson, Rachael Sage,
Carter Burwell, Tim Booth, Angelo Badelmente and Branford Marsalis. Working with such
impressive icons, what have been some of the valuable learning experiences that you gained from
working so closely with these artists?
My best recording experiences are about capturing moments. All the people on this list that I've
recorded with are experienced and well trained to understand what that means. That can be
translated to many art forms and many day to day experiences - capturing moments, remembering,
feeling, being present. It's about awakening and that's a life journey, so good recording methods
can be a metaphor for how to get the most out of life.
What instrument do
you enjoy playing the
most?
My voice.
What is the best part
of being a musician,
what aspects do you
enjoy the most?
It's eclectic. I have a lot of control over how I make music, even in a sideman situation. I make
decisions about what my tone is like, how to play my parts, and often I make up new parts every
time I play a song. There are also many cross disciplines that I enjoy, such as computer expertise,
and physical fitness which is integrated into singing, being energetic on stage, and in the case of
my solo tour - loading in and out of venues with all my heavy equipment. I'm also a very seasoned
traveller and have a great time with myself while I'm on the road. It's something I actually do very
well.
What has been the biggest challenge to pursuing a music career?
My challenge has been not getting my feelings hurt when things don't pan out like they were
"supposed" to. I have to be at peace with a lot of disappointment in order to keep going forward. I
think this happens to me because I myself am very reliable and have learned to follow through with
plans and promises. If that energy is not reciprocated, and that's often the case, I get hurt and take
it personally. I understand intellectually that this is an immature reaction, but it's my weakness, and
that's OK, but I'd like to improve.
You have traveled all over the world, which country did you enjoy visiting the most and why?
Definitely New Zealand. It's a smaller, better version of Britain, America -the generally developed
world. They have great reverence for their native people and their artists. That was my
experience, anyway, and I was hanging out with a lot of people that work for the government down
there.
During a tour with Joe Jackson you got to play
a viola solo on Late Night with Conan O'Brien,
what was that experience like?
That was a good challenge - probably my first
big TV appearance. I've seen it once since it
aired, on some tape somewhere, and though I
cringed as though I was going to be
embarrassed, it worked out quite the opposite.
He writes such great music and I was able to
pull it off, so I was very proud.
What has been the best advice someone has given you professionally?
Joe Jackson said something to me recently after seeing me do a show. We'd had a few beers, and
I think (?) that the jist of his comments were encouraging me to find my purpose for doing my own
music, and tap into a kind of desperation to make it work. I think that has helped me in the last 6
months as I finished the cd and started promoting. I feel more desperate than ever to make it work,
and his comments have made me comfortable with a sort of unsettling but very motivating
desperation.
What advice can you offer to the many struggling musicians who are beginning their journey in
pursuit of their dreams?
Find a good music scene that you can live in. Move to a big city if you have to. Go out and play
with everybody, but always look for the ones that are better than you and get in that band. Learn
meticulously every detail of the music that inspires you. If you don't like your teacher, quit and find
one that you like, or teach yourself. Learn to sing, and learn to play with accurate time.
What was your best achievement
in 2006?
Finishing the recording of "Pretty
Colored Lights" and paying for it!
Early in January, in Southern
California, I took a fall off my
Arabian Mare the day before I was
supposed to fly back to NY and do
some shows with Cyndi Lauper. I
was crushed, in more ways than
one, to hear (after three days of
getting x-rayed) the doctors
recommend I didn't fly for at least
a few months, due to my cracked
ribs and a punctured lung, the
latter being the bigger problem.
BTW - these events are depicted
in a song on the album called "I
Fall Down". I managed to drive
back to NY and do the shows and
a lot of other work while I
guess I'm pretty protective of that position in that band! About 7 months later I finished the
recording of Pretty Colored Lights.
What do you hope the year 2007 will bring?
Slowly building a following and finding homes for my music.
(The Richmond Buzz)
What responsibility do you think artists have as role models?
I would like to speak personally about this, because we are all so different, and why shouldn't
everybody have a role model that suits their needs? There's no perfect model for everyone. For
myself, I thought that it would be responsible for me to get a great education, and then turn it into
the best art I could make, and give that back to the people I could touch. I sing about heartbreak
and I sing about hopes and dreams and the promise of good loving support. Those are popular
themes, and I like my music to be pretty, so hopefully the right combination is found to guide the
listener in and help them feel their feelings. I think this in a very simple way can improve life. And
that would be my wish.
Go to www.allisoncornell.com
or Allison's Myspace Page
Glamour and Pain Video
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