Standing Tall

Best known for his playing with the progressive rock act Jethro Tull, the late Glenn Cornick knew his way around a fretboard like few others...

- Alison Richter

Over the brief course of his three years with Jethro Tull, bassist Glenn Cornick left enough of an imprint to remain in the forefront of diehard fans’ memories. While the band eventually came to be known more for their inimitable frontman, Ian Anderson, it was Cornick’s ear for arrangements and his steady, fluid bass-lines that built the foundation upon which Tull stood tall.

Cornick was born and raised in Barrowin-Furness, UK, where he began playing acoustic guitar. At 16 he took up the bass, playing in a number of local bands and eventually joining the Executives, with whom he recorded the single ‘Lock Your Door’ in 1966.

“When I was about 17, I felt I needed to leave the small town where I lived and move somewhere with more chance of musical advancement,” he told It’s Psychedelic Baby magazine in 2011. “I ran away from home to Blackpool with my Fender bass and a backpack, and never really returned home.”