Author name: Cornelius Boots

Wood Prophet and root philosopher Cornelius Boots has performed in most types of ensembles, at international festivals and up-close for goats with big horns. Boots has written, recorded, and released over a dozen albums of his original compositions and teaches his signature playing style to the curious and dedicated around the world. Forging his own no-holds-barred style as a professional woodwind performer/composer/teacher since 1989, he is a three-time graduate of Jacobs School of Music (BM Classical Clarinet ’97, BS Audio Recording ’97, MM Jazz Studies ’99) and licensed grandmaster (dai shihan) in the dynamic Zen shakuhachi lineage of Watazumido. The 1996 inventor of the bass clarinet quartet – now a popular modality in many colleges and communities – Boots is a sought-after composer, performer, and teacher, and is an active recording artist who has won awards and created fresh new repertoire for both bass clarinet and shakuhachi, reshaping the landscape of modern woodwind performance practice through robust expressive, signature techniques rooted in pan-stylistic depth and artistic evolution. After a 30-year career of high-caliber jazz, classical, rock, and experimental music activities (on multiple woodwinds with a focus on the bass clarinet), Boots has now positioned himself at the crossroads of personal expression and divine revelation, exclusively playing bamboo shakuhachi (jinashi/hotchiku) and its baritone brother, Taimu. He is the founder of Black Earth Shakuhachi School, and composes music for the Wood Prophets, the world’s first bass shakuhachi group.