 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
99 Main St. Waterville, ME 04901 |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
The Al Corey Music Center was established in 1955 growing out of what was originally a small lessons studio. Al moved his store to its present location at 99 Main Street in 1959 and has been supplying the central Maine area with quality musical instruments ever since. Biography: Al was born Elias Corey in Waterville, ME. One of ten children born to Lebanese parents, his childhood was characteristic of most depression era children. He began his musical career playing a harmonica given to him by his sister and becoming a member of the Boy's Club Harmonica Band. Then one day, hearing a neighbor playing a C melody sax, Al asked to try it, and thus began his love of the saxophone. Sadly, Al passed away on 9 November 2003.
On Friday, 14 November the following editorial appeared in the Waterville Morning Sentinel: Al Corey: A rare man of music and joy
When Al Corey came on the scene in the 1940s, the music he played was as hip as it could be: Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woodie Herman, et al were the rage then. Sixty years later, Al
Corey's Big Band was still swingin', "Take the A Train" wasn't in the Top 40 anymore, but you couldn't tell that from the way Al wailed on his sax.
Al died on Sunday. He was 86, but that was only a number. Anyone who ever met him – ever heard him play or ever saw him with the kids in his Main Street music store in Waterville – would
have sworn he was at least 20 years younger. He was one of those rare birds who truly lived up to the cliché that you are as old as you act.
Lots of older people are called institutions and their death mourned as the passing of an era. Usually, that's just the polite thing to say – no one really believes that. Few of us are that essential to
our community that our passing would really make much of a difference. But Al Corey really was at that level. Main Street stores came and went (more went than came),
but Al Corey's Music Center not only survived for all these years (since 1959 in the current location), but thrived. Without him, Main Street would have been a lesser place.
Then there are the hundreds – probably thousands – of budding musicians who he helped in his store, making sure they got the right instrument at a price they could afford. No one knows how
many stuck with their music and went on to musical careers, but there are surely hundreds who did. As for being an institution, his big band meets all the criteria: quality, longevity, ubiquity. You'd have
to be a recluse not to have heard his band, which played all over central Maine and the state. We hope both the store and the band will be around a long time. Of course, no one can replace Al,
but it would be good to hear his music to continue to bring joy to many people in central Maine.
|
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||
99 Main St. |
||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| [Welcome] [History] [Instruments] [Products] [The Big Band] [Lessons] [Services] [Contact Us] |
|
|
Copyright © 2002 Al Corey Music Center, All Rights Reserved.
|