Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:24, 10 March 2020

Claude Thornhill
Thornhill, ca. 1947
Background information
Born	(1908-08-10)August 10, 1908 Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S.
Died	July 1, 1965(1965-07-01) (aged 56) Caldwell, New Jersey, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, cool jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, bandleader, arranger, composer
Instrument	Piano
Years active	1924–1965

Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1908 – July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. He composed the jazz and pop standards "Snowfall" and "I Wish I Had You".

Early years

Thornhill was the son of J. Chester Thornhill and his wife, Maude. When he was 11 years old, he played piano professionally. While still a youth, he played with two local combos. As a student at Garfield High School in Terre Haute, he played with several theater bands. Thornhill entered the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at the age of 16.

Career

As a youth, he was recognized as an extraordinary talent and formed a traveling duo with Danny Polo, a musical prodigy on the clarinet and trumpet from nearby Clinton, Indiana.

He and clarinetist Artie Shaw started their careers at the Golden Pheasant in Cleveland, Ohio, with the Austin Wylie Orchestra. Thornhill and Shaw went to New York together in 1931. Thornhill went to the West Coast in the late 1930s with the Bob Hope Radio Show and arranged for Judy Garland in Babes in Arms. In 1935, he played on sessions with Glenn Miller, including "Solo Hop", which was released on Columbia Records. He also played with Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, and Billie Holiday. He arranged "Loch Lomond" and "Annie Laurie" for Maxine Sullivan.

In 1939 he founded the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Polo was his lead clarinet player. Although the Thornhill band was a sophisticated dance band, it became known for its superior jazz musicians and for Thornhill's and Gil Evans's arrangements. The band played without vibrato so that the timbres of the instruments could be better appreciated. Thornhill encouraged the musicians to develop cool-sounding tones. The band was popular with both musicians and the public. Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool nonet was modeled in part on Thornhill's sound and unconventional instrumentation. The band's most successful records were "Snowfall", "A Sunday Kind of Love", and "Love for Love".

Thornhill was playing at the Paramount Theater in New York for $10,000 a week in 1942 when he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. As chief musician, he performed shows across the Pacific Theater with Jackie Cooper as his drummer and Dennis Day as his vocalist.

In 1946, he was discharged from the Navy and reunited his ensemble. Polo, Gerry Mulligan, and Barry Galbraith returned with new members, Red Rodney, Lee Konitz, Joe Shulman, and Bill Barber. In the mid 1950s, Thornhill was briefly Tony Bennett's musical director. He offered his big band library to Gerry Mulligan when Mulligan formed the Concert Jazz Band, but Gerry regretfully declined the gift, since his instrumentation was different. A large portion of his extensive library of music is currently held by Drury University in Springfield, Missouri.

Thornhill died of a heart attack in Caldwell, New Jersey, at the age of 56. In 1984, he was posthumously inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.

Compositions

Claude Thornhill's compositions included the standard "Snowfall", "I Wish I Had You", recorded by Billie Holiday and Fats Waller, "Let's Go", "Shore Road", "Portrait of a Guinea Farm", "Lodge Podge", "Rustle of Spring", "It's Time for Us to Part", "It Was a Lover and His Lass", "The Little Red Man", "Memory of an Island", and "Where Has My Little Dog Gone?"

Cover versions of "Snowfall"

The 1941 Claude Thornhill piano composition "Snowfall" later had lyrics written by his wife Ruth Thornhill. It has been recorded in vocal and non-vocal versions by the following artists:

• Henry Mancini
• Singers Unlimited
• Tony Bennett
• BBC Big Band
• Chris Connor
• Doris Day
• Wes Montgomery
• Kenny Poole and Gene Bertoncini
• Helen Merrill
• Avalanches
• Richie Cole with Hank Crawford
• Eddie South
• Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
• Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra
• Enoch Light and the Light Brigade
• Esquivel
• Billy Vaughn
• George Shearing
• Pete Rugolo
• John Williams and the Boston Pops
• Skitch Henderson and Bucky Pizzarelli
• Ramsey Lewis Trio
• Michael Fortunato
• Dick Hyman
• Four Freshmen
• Eddie Davis
• Ted Heath
• Mike Horsfall
• Paul Plimley
• Emily Remler
• Steve Hall
• Manhattan Transfer
• Cafe Accordion Orchestra
• Howard Alden and Bucky Pizzarelli
• Ahmad Jamal
• Liz Story
• NRBQ
• John Zorn
• The Monkees

References

1. Roznowski, Tom (2009). An American Hometown: Terre Haute, Indiana, 1927. Indiana University Press. pp. 226–227. ISBN 978-0-253-00503-8. Retrieved March 9, 2020.
2. Yanow, Scott. "Claude Thornhill Biography". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved April 2, 2018.
3. Johnson, David (August 3, 2009). "The Godfather Of Cool". WFIU.
4. "Claude Thornhill Is Dead at 56". The New York Times. July 2, 1965. p. 29.

External links

• Claude Thornhill biography by Christopher Popa
• Claude Thornhill discography at Discogs
• Claude Thornhill at IMDb
• Claude Thornhill at Find a Grave

• 1908 births
• 1965 deaths
• Cool jazz pianists
• Sweet band musicians
• Big band bandleaders
• American jazz pianists
• American male pianists
• American jazz bandleaders
• American music arrangers
• People from Caldwell, New Jersey
• RCA Victor artists
• People from Terre Haute, Indiana
• Musicians from Indiana
• Musicians from New Jersey
• Musicians from New Rochelle, New York
• American military personnel of World War II
• 20th-century American pianists
• Jazz musicians from New York (state)
• 20th-century American male musicians
• Male jazz musicians