Gina Vodegel (Writingaffairs.com) about Glenn, August 2005:

"A few days ago, a very gifted young all-round Dutch musician died in a tragic car accident. Glenn Corneille was only 35 years and in the full blossom of his life and career. He studied at the Conservatory of Maastricht and graduated with honors in 1995 (as a teacher) and in 1997 as a performing artist. He’d already been playing all over town and elsewhere in the Netherlands and felt comfortable in all kinds of styles, ranging from classical music to French chansons, R&B, Pop and ofcourse Jazz. It was most natural that his good nature, charm and musical genius would open any door, so his star was soon rising in the national mecca of entertainment, television, radio and events. He was born in Venlo, a town about 70 km up north from Maastricht, also situated in the southern province of Limburg. There’s always been a special bond between musicians who come from this part of the country, for the ways in the south are quite different from the mentality that rules in Amsterdam or Hilversum, the centre court for all things media, television and radio. A while ago I wrote an M5 item about A Singer’s Wedding Party… Most, if not all of the musicians present that evening have had the pleasure of working with Glenn Corneille and his influence reached further, deeper even than on a musical level, because he was also a very nice, amicable and warmhearted guy.

There’s a gentle rubbing of history when walking down this memory lane, a tiny full circle in the tragedy of Glenn’s passing. My first interview with a Dutch musician (for an American online jazzmagazine, Jazz Now) was with trumpeteer Eric Vloeimans, who performed in the Carnaval du Jazz, a jazz stage that had been co-founded by drummer Geert Roelofs. Glenn and Geert, along with German bassist Werner Lauscher joined forces in a jazztrio, the Corneille/Roelofs Trio. The three of them initiated a steady gig on Monday, each week, in a Maastricht jazzcafe named Marks & Kampstra. They invited many guest musicians to come in and play, with a lot of space for improvisation. This resulted, eventually, in the recording of their first album. This CD, “Finally”, was presented in the Carnaval du Jazz ( on the picture above you can see a newspaper article about the CD presentation). A few years ago, as agreed, Geert Roelofs sent me their debut CD, with a lot of paper clippings. I was supposed to write a review for the American jazz webzine, but writing about music has always been a labour of love and somehow, due to other obligations, it got shelved… Not that me writing about their music would have made any difference, they sure didn’t need me to get their well-deserved attention. Soon they made their debut on the North Sea Jazz Festival and recorded a second album, “And That’s Why” which was released in the Netherlands in 2003, a year later in Japan.

A few months ago, I sent my Corneille/Roelofs Trio CD “Finally” to another fine pianist and musician, the Chicago based John Erickson, with whom we did an interview for Mizar5. He gave me his two CD’s and they are simply a joy to listen to, so I wanted to return the favor and send him some music of Netherlands’ finest musicians in exchange. That could only be Glenn Corneille & friends, not in the least because they’re from the south, a little chauvinistic pride is allowed from time to time, right? (I didn’t make a copy and sent the original. I did however hesitate, whether to import it on my computer first, but I had one song “left", that would do for now, I could always get another copy…) So on its way to Chicago they went… It’s a very fine disc, with one surprising rendition of Jobim’s “Girl from Ipanema", especially because this song is often beaten to boredom…it was a challenge they took and did not forsake!

Glenn Corneille, Geert Roelofs, Werner Lauscher and two Dutch acclaimed musicians, trumpeteer Eric Vloeimans and bassist Hein van de Geyn as guests…
Presenting you this song is a tribute to Glenn Corneille, it’s one of Eric’s compositions and a track from “Finally"… with Eric on trumpet and Hein on bass… Geert on drums and Glenn on piano…"Nana"… fragile and straight from the heart…"