Claude Thornhill

The real birth of cool....

The sound hung like a cloud.

- Gil Evans

I first heard about Claude Thornhill very early in my musical journey. It was probably about 1986 when I read Jazz West Coast by Robert Gordon, which I bought at Ray’s Jazz Shop in London. This was an influential book in my jazz journey. It opened up the world of West Coast Jazz I had just started to discover while living in Monterey before I left for Europe.

At the time, I was just getting into jazz and Chet Baker was my main entry point. Obviously, I crossed into Gerry Mulligan’s pianoless quartet with Baker on trumpet, Mulligan on baritone, Bob Whitlock on bass, and Chico Hamilton on drums.

In Gordon’s book, I read about the profound influence Thornhill had on Gerry Mulligan, Lee Konitz, Red Rodney, and arranger Gil Evans.

Back then, it was difficult to find Thornhill’s music. One day, I ran across a 78 RPM 1949 Columbia Records four-album set called, Piano Reflections:

On a whim, I bought it and became an instant fan. I like many songs from this album, for example, Lady of the Evening and the lovely Memory of an Island, but my favorite has to be, How Am I to Know?:

Here is that song, which features Thornhill with just a rhythm section:

So I learned to like Thornhill first as a piano player before I had ever heard his orchestra play.

As I moved down that Big River called Jazz, I drifted away from Thornhill, until many years later when I heard his orchestra playing Snowfall. I can’t remember the circumstances for how the song came to me, but when I heard it I instantly remembered Gerry Mulligan, Gil Evans, and the Birth of Cool.

Claude Thornhill and his Orchestra’s influence on the Birth of Cool has been well documented - more on that later…. On this week’s journey, I’d like to focus first and foremost on Claude Thornhill the piano player - an accomplished and respected jazz pianist long before he introduced his orchestra in 1940.

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In the early 1930s, while in Cleveland, Claude Thornhill joined Austin Wylie’s Orchestra at the Golden Pheasant. His roommate was Artie Shaw.

However, Thornhill’s big break came in 1934 when he joined the Benny Goodman band that auditioned for Broadway promoter Billy Rose’s new club, the Billy Rose Music Hall, located at 52nd Street and Broadway.

Rose had earned respect as a lyricist, credited with writing the lyrics to Me and My Shadow and It’s Only A Paper Moon and for thinking up great titles for Tin Pan Alley songs like I Found a Million Dollar Baby (In a Five and Ten-Cent Store). Benny Goodman’s brother Harry got Benny’s band the audition with Rose. The Dorsey’s also tried out for the Music Hall job, but Rose hired Goodman, and the band opened the club on June 21, 1934.

In 1935, Thornhill also played on sessions for Glenn Miller's first recordings as Glenn Miller and His Orchestra and played on Miller's composition Solo Hop released on Columbia Records (You can hear that song here).

By now, Thornhill had become a valuable session man. In 1937 as the musical director-pianist for Maxine Sullivan, he arranged and produced her major hit record Loch Lomond. While Loch Lamond may have been the big hit, for me, I’m Coming Virginia on the song on the flip side is much better.

I’m Coming Virginia, was recorded in August 1937 on the Vocalion label.

Here is that song, with the great Frank Newton on trumpet and, of course, Thornhill on piano.

However, on a series of songs with Billie Holiday, also recorded for the Vocalion label, I find Thornhill’s playing at his most subtle and brilliant.

Recorded on September 13, 1937, in New York City, here is Getting Some Fun Out Of Life:

Here’s that recording:

Holiday is joined by a superb band with Buck Clayton on trumpet, Lester Young on tenor sax, Buster Bailey on clarinet, Jo Jones on drums, Freddy Green on guitar, Walter Page on bass, and, of course, Thornhill on piano.

The flip side of this record is another great forgotten song, Who Wants Love:

Thornhill’s solo on this one is a masterpiece.

The next year, on May 11, 1938, Thornhill joined Holiday for another Vocalion recording session that included You Go To My Head:

Here is that song:

I love that line: Like a summer with a thousand July's….

Finally, in 1940, Thornhill formed his own orchestra and soon began recording on the Columbia label. In May 1941, they recorded a wonderful side, Where or When, a show tune from the 1937 Rodgers and Hart musical Babes In Arms.

Here is that recording:

As nice as Where or When is, Thornhill’s most famous song is Snowfall on the flip side. Originally written as part of a suite for Ray Noble’s band in the 1930s, Thornhill pulled out A Fountain In Havana and gave it a new title, Snowfall. It became the band’s theme song and his greatest hit. Perhaps more than any other song Snowfall defines Thornhill’s evocative and ethereal sound and embodies his lyrical, melancholy temperament.

Now, here’s one more for the road. In the late 1930s, Thornhill went to the West Coast with the Bob Hope Radio Show, worked in Hollywood writing music for films, and helped Skinny Enis assemble a big band. While in Los Angeles he met Gil Evans. When Thornhill finally formed his orchestra in 1940, Evans became his main arranger.

Claude Thornhill’s Orchestra became a big success; however, in 1942, playing at the Paramount Theater in New York for $10,000 a week, he dropped everything to enlist in the U.S. Navy to support the war effort. As chief musician, he played shows across the Pacific Theater with drummer Jackie Cooper and vocalist Dennis Day. In 1946, he was discharged from the Navy and reformed his band. Once again, Gil Evans took over the arranging.

In June 1947, Thornhill and his Orchestra recorded La Paloma, arranged by Gil Evans:

This is classic Thornhill and about halfway through the song, you can hear the beginnings of that Birth of Cool sound later developed by Gil Evans and Miles Davis.

Here is that song:

When I listen to this song, I am particularly reminded of My Ship from Davis’ 1957 Miles Ahead album. It also has the sound and feel of Davis’ 1960 Sketches of Spain, both arranged by Gil Evans.

After the war, Thornhill turned the band’s writing over to Evans, who took the band in a modernistic and bebop-oriented direction, featuring songs like Charlie Parker’s Anthropology and Donna Lee. However, by then, Thornhill’s glory days were over. He continued leading bands on a part-time basis up until his death, but he was largely neglected and forgotten during his final 15 years. On July 1, 1965, Claude Thornhill quietly passed away in New York City. He was 56 years old.

Next week on that Big River called Jazz, we’ll dig our paddles in and explore the waters of the more modern sounds of Bobby Hutcherson.

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Until then, keep on walking….