From:   "Dik de Heer"
Date:  Sat Jul 5, 2003  1:26 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Cornelius Coleman
 
CORNELIUS COLEMAN

Born Cornelius Jessie Coleman, 5 July 1929, New Orleans, Louisiana
Died 20 February 1973, New Orleans, Louisiana

Cornelius Coleman was Fats Domino's drummer, both in the studio and
on the road, for some fifteen years. He never was a member of Cosimo
Matassa's Studio Band. The position of drummer in that prolific outfit
was reserved for Earl Palmer, and after Earl moved to New Orleans in 
February 1957, for Charles "Hungry" Williams. I don't think that Coleman
played on any records of New Orleans artists other than Domino.
The drummer on Fats's earliest recordings (1949-50) is Earl Palmer, but
Coleman plays on ALL Domino sessions from 1951 till 1956, with just one
exception : the session of May 25, 1956 (When My Dreamboat Comes
Home, Ida Jane, Don't Know What's Wrong), where the drum kit was 
occupied by "Hungry" Williams. Coleman plays on most of the 1957-58
sessions and again all of the 1959-62 Imperial sessions. He does not
appear on any of Domino's post-Imperial studio recordings (the drummer
on the ABC recordings is Clarence Brown), but he continued to tour with
Fats and can be heard on the live Mercury LP that was recorded in Las
Vegas on June 10, 1965.

There are at least four Fats Domino discographies: the one in "Blues 
Records 1943-1970" by Mike Leadbitter and Neil Slaven, Michel Ruppli's
"The Aladdin / Imperial Labels : A Discography" (1991), the discography
by Steve Kolanjian that accompanies the 1991 EMI 4 CD-box and the
Bear Family discography (1993) by Wouter Keesing, Richard Weize and
Laurence Zwisohn. Of these, the Bear Family discography is the most
idiosyncratic. There is general agreement that Blueberry Hill / Honey Chile
was recorded in Hollywood (June 21, 1956) and that there was an L.A.
session on October 30, 1958 (Margie, Darktown Strutter's Ball, a.o.). 

The Bear Family discographers also locate the following sessions in
Hollywood:
- July 10, 1954 ( I Live My Life / Littlle Mama / I Know)
- March 15, 1955 (All By Myself, Ain't IIt A Shame, Oh Ba-a-by / Help Me)
- March 30, 1955 (Blue Monday / La La)
- November 7, 1955 (Don't Blame It On Mee / If You Need Me)
- November 30, 1955 (So Long, Howdy Podnner)
- June 21, 1956 (What's The Reason, The  Twist Set Me Free)
- April 11, 1957 (Valley Of Tears / It'ss You I Love / Wait And See / True
Confession). Produced by Jimmie Haskell, they even say!
- February 4, 1958 (No No / Sick And Tirred)
- November 4, 1958 (I Hear You Knocking  / Li'l Liza Jane / Every Night /
When the Saints Go Marching In / Country Boy / My Heart Is Bleeding).

The other sources locate these sessions in New Orleans. Who's right
and who's wrong?