Allison Cornell – An Appreciation

This text was posted by Joe Jackson on 23 February 2024 via Facebook and Instagram.

I learned a couple of days ago that Allison Cornell, one of my favourite touring companions, is no longer with us. It was not a complete surprise; she had been fighting cancer for a long time. And I do mean fighting. According to the doctors, she should have been gone at least a year ago.

I toured with Allison three times. Words like 'competent' and 'capable' tend to be used as faint praise, but she took them to amazing heights, both as a musician and as a person. She had very little tolerance for bullshit, and if she said she could do a thing, you knew she could do it. She played violin and viola, rode a motorcycle, played keyboards, built practically a whole house by herself, taught herself guitar and then decided she may as well play bass and banjo too. She was an excellent singer, and when she took over the lead vocal of one of my songs, Glamour and Pain, she transformed it into something quite magical, and a highlight of the show. Offstage, on days off, she would buy food and cook it on a Primus stove in her hotel room. We used to joke that everyone else was on tour, but Allison was on an Expedition.

Allison moved around a lot, but when she and her partner Kate settled in Nova Scotia, I wondered if I'd ever see her again. From New York I exchanged emails with her until finally, a date on my upcoming tour was set for my first and only show in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I wrote to Allison in great excitement, only to find out that she was playing a gig the same day... in New York.

Our last meeting was just as unlikely. We somehow both ended up in Paris, when I had a day off before a show. It was a hot summer day and my hotel had a rooftop bar, where we drank mojitos. The afternoon seemed to last forever. That's how I'll always remember Allison. That, and her singing my song so much better than I could myself, while wearing a top hat.

RIP

J J

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