Claude Thornhill(1909-1965)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Claude Thornhill was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, on August 10 1909.
He started playing the piano from the age of ten. His mother, a choir
director and church organist, encouraged him to pursue a musical
career. Her ambition was for him to become a concert pianist. However,
a close friendship with the clarinettist
Danny Polo soon steered young Claude away
from classical music, towards jazz. After a season on the 'S.S. George
Washington' with Heavy Elder's Riverboat Orchestra and another year
with the 'Kentucky Colonels', Thornhill embarked on a musical education
at the Cincinnati Conservatory and the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia, studying not only piano, but harmony, counterpoint and
arranging. Following a two-year stint with Austin Wylie's band in the
Cleveland area, Thornhill settled in New York in early 1931. During the
first half of the decade, he worked steadily for more than a few name
orchestras, including those of Hal Kemp,
Paul Whiteman,
Donald Voorhees,
Jacques Renard,
Freddy Martin,
Ray Noble and
Benny Goodman.
Beginning in 1936, Thornhill enjoyed a somewhat lengthier spell with
Andre Kostelanetz, further honing his
skills as an arranger. His first bona fide success arrived a year
later, courtesy of an arrangement of "Loch Lomond", which became a hit
recording for a 25-year old vocalist named
Maxine Sullivan. As her musical
director, he also supervised her first recording dates for Okeh and
Vocalion. By the late
1930's, Thornhill had moved to the West Coast as a free-lance arranger. He also helped Skinnay Ennis
set up a band and served as musical director on the
Bob Hope Show.
With forty of his own arrangements in hand (and encouragement from his
close friend Glenn Miller), he
finally took the step of assembling a big band in 1940. After several
setbacks on the West Coast (including a fire which burned down one of
the venues), Thornhill finally opened at the prestigious Glen Island
Casino the following March. Some of the more prominent musicians who
formed part of this group, were trumpeters Conrad Gozzo and Rusty
Diedrick, clarinettist Irving Fazola, trombonist Tasso Harris and the
excellent arranger Gil Evans. With its
French horns and emphasized sustained chords, unison clarinets (there
were six in the band!) and Thornhill's own delicate piano solos, the
band sounded unlike any other. While rarely a true swinging outfit like
Goodman's or Shaw's, the band excelled at lush, melodic ballads, such
as "Sleepy Serenade", Thornhill's own composition (his theme song),
"Snowfall", and arrangements of classic pieces, like "Träumerei".
Unfortunately, due to World War II and the draft, this first
incarnation of the Claude Thornhill Orchestra was short-lived. Claude
himself enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. He first served in
Artie Shaw's navy band,
'The Rangers', before devoting more time to organising special musical events. In the process, he worked closely with some of the top brass, including Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
and Admiral William F. Halsey.
Thornhill then led a service orchestra in Hawaii until the end of the
war. In 1946, he assembled another big band, which included a swinging
drummer named Billy Exiner, the vocalist
Fran Warren (whose biggest hit with the band
was "A Sunday Kind of Love"), and, on some recording dates, emerging
stars Lee Konitz and
Gerry Mulligan. The main creative impetus
came from Gil Evans, whose classic arrangements (such as, "Buster's
Last Stand", "Donna Lee", "Anthropology" and "Yardbird Suite") are
regarded by many as having presaged the birth of the
'Cool' movement (Evans, of course, went on to collaborate with Miles Davis
on the seminal albums "Miles Ahead" and "Sketches of Spain"). However,
Thornhill, like everyone else in the business, was eventually affected
by the overall financial downturn, which made it less and less
profitable to operate big bands. By the
1950's -- and suffering from health problems -- he had disbanded the orchestra and gone into semi-retirement. He re-emerged to briefly serve as musical director for Tony Bennett
in 1957, thereafter confining his bandleading activities to a sextet.
On July 1 1965, he died suddenly of a double heart attack at his home
in Caldwell, New Jersey. A compilation of seventeen of the best
arrangements by Thornhill and Evans (covering the period 1937-47) was
compiled in an album entitled "Tapestries" , released by Charly Records
in 1987.
He started playing the piano from the age of ten. His mother, a choir
director and church organist, encouraged him to pursue a musical
career. Her ambition was for him to become a concert pianist. However,
a close friendship with the clarinettist
Danny Polo soon steered young Claude away
from classical music, towards jazz. After a season on the 'S.S. George
Washington' with Heavy Elder's Riverboat Orchestra and another year
with the 'Kentucky Colonels', Thornhill embarked on a musical education
at the Cincinnati Conservatory and the Curtis Institute in
Philadelphia, studying not only piano, but harmony, counterpoint and
arranging. Following a two-year stint with Austin Wylie's band in the
Cleveland area, Thornhill settled in New York in early 1931. During the
first half of the decade, he worked steadily for more than a few name
orchestras, including those of Hal Kemp,
Paul Whiteman,
Donald Voorhees,
Jacques Renard,
Freddy Martin,
Ray Noble and
Benny Goodman.
Beginning in 1936, Thornhill enjoyed a somewhat lengthier spell with
Andre Kostelanetz, further honing his
skills as an arranger. His first bona fide success arrived a year
later, courtesy of an arrangement of "Loch Lomond", which became a hit
recording for a 25-year old vocalist named
Maxine Sullivan. As her musical
director, he also supervised her first recording dates for Okeh and
Vocalion. By the late
1930's, Thornhill had moved to the West Coast as a free-lance arranger. He also helped Skinnay Ennis
set up a band and served as musical director on the
Bob Hope Show.
With forty of his own arrangements in hand (and encouragement from his
close friend Glenn Miller), he
finally took the step of assembling a big band in 1940. After several
setbacks on the West Coast (including a fire which burned down one of
the venues), Thornhill finally opened at the prestigious Glen Island
Casino the following March. Some of the more prominent musicians who
formed part of this group, were trumpeters Conrad Gozzo and Rusty
Diedrick, clarinettist Irving Fazola, trombonist Tasso Harris and the
excellent arranger Gil Evans. With its
French horns and emphasized sustained chords, unison clarinets (there
were six in the band!) and Thornhill's own delicate piano solos, the
band sounded unlike any other. While rarely a true swinging outfit like
Goodman's or Shaw's, the band excelled at lush, melodic ballads, such
as "Sleepy Serenade", Thornhill's own composition (his theme song),
"Snowfall", and arrangements of classic pieces, like "Träumerei".
Unfortunately, due to World War II and the draft, this first
incarnation of the Claude Thornhill Orchestra was short-lived. Claude
himself enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1942. He first served in
Artie Shaw's navy band,
'The Rangers', before devoting more time to organising special musical events. In the process, he worked closely with some of the top brass, including Admiral Chester W. Nimitz
and Admiral William F. Halsey.
Thornhill then led a service orchestra in Hawaii until the end of the
war. In 1946, he assembled another big band, which included a swinging
drummer named Billy Exiner, the vocalist
Fran Warren (whose biggest hit with the band
was "A Sunday Kind of Love"), and, on some recording dates, emerging
stars Lee Konitz and
Gerry Mulligan. The main creative impetus
came from Gil Evans, whose classic arrangements (such as, "Buster's
Last Stand", "Donna Lee", "Anthropology" and "Yardbird Suite") are
regarded by many as having presaged the birth of the
'Cool' movement (Evans, of course, went on to collaborate with Miles Davis
on the seminal albums "Miles Ahead" and "Sketches of Spain"). However,
Thornhill, like everyone else in the business, was eventually affected
by the overall financial downturn, which made it less and less
profitable to operate big bands. By the
1950's -- and suffering from health problems -- he had disbanded the orchestra and gone into semi-retirement. He re-emerged to briefly serve as musical director for Tony Bennett
in 1957, thereafter confining his bandleading activities to a sextet.
On July 1 1965, he died suddenly of a double heart attack at his home
in Caldwell, New Jersey. A compilation of seventeen of the best
arrangements by Thornhill and Evans (covering the period 1937-47) was
compiled in an album entitled "Tapestries" , released by Charly Records
in 1987.