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. As a student at Garfield High School in Terre Haute, he played with several theater bands.
Thornhill entered the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music at age 16. That same year he and clarinetist Artie Shaw started their careers at the Golden Pheasant in Cleveland, Ohio with the Austin Wiley Orchestra. Thornhill and Shaw went to New York together in 1931.
Claude 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 for Glenn Miller's first recordings under his own name, as Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. He played on Glenn Miller's composition "Solo Hop," which was released on Columbia Records.
After playing for Paul Whiteman, Benny Goodman, Ray Noble, Glenn Miller, and Billie Holiday, and arranging "Loch Lomond" and "Annie Laurie" for Maxine Sullivan, in 1939 he founded his Claude Thornhill Orchestra. Danny Polo was his lead clarinet player. Although the Thornhill band was originally a sophisticated dance band, it became known for its many superior jazz musicians and for Thornhill's and Gil Evans' innovative arrangements; its "Portrait of a Guinea Farm" has become a classic jazz recording.
The band played without vibrato so that the timbres of the instruments could be better appreciated, and Thornhill encouraged the musicians to develop cool-sounding tones. The band was popular with both musicians and the public; the Miles Davis Nonet was modeled in part on Thornhill's cool sound and use of unconventional instrumentation. The band's most successful records were "Snowfall," "A Sunday Kind of Love" and "Love for Love."
His most famous recording, "Snowfall," was released in 1941 as Columbia 36268. He released the song also as a V-Disc recording, as V-Disc 271A1.
Playing at the Paramount Theater in New York for $10,000 a week in 1942, Thornhill dropped everything to enlist in the US Navy to support the war effort. As chief musician, he played 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. Then in April, he reformed his ensemble. He kept his same stylistic lines, but added some Bop lines to it. He got his old members of Danny Polo, Gerry Mulligan, and Barry Galbraith back together, but also added new members like Red Rodney, Lee Konitz, Joe Shulman and Bill Barber. Barber was a tuba player, who was considered as a "soft brass" player rather than a bass as to not interfere with (Joe) Shulman on the bass. Their creative and immaculately clean and delicate interpretation of Evans’s arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s fast bop theme "Anthropology" (1947) provides a particularly noteworthy example of Thornhill’s style, which influenced Miles Davis’s recordings in 1949 for Capitol and many musicians who followed .
In the mid 1950s, Thornhill was briefly Tony Bennett's musical director.
He offered his big band library to Gerry Mulligan when Gerry 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.
After his discharge from the Navy he continued to perform with his orchestra until his death of a heart attack at 1:30 a.m., July 2, 1965, at his home in Caldwell, New Jersey. Claude was booked at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, at the time, the engagement was kept in his honor with his music director in his place. He was survived by his wife, actress Ruth Thornhill, and his mother, Maude Thornhill (81 at the time), of Terre Haute, Indiana, still active at the time conducting choirs.
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?"
In 1984, Claude Thornhill was inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame.
There's A Small Hotel
Claude Thornhill Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Somewhere alone with you
It could be oh, so gay, Junior
You need a laugh
Or two
A certain place I know, Frankie
Where funny people can have fun
Darling
Before you can count up
One, two, three.
For there's a small hotel
With a wishing well
I wish that we were there together
There's a bridal suite
One room bright and neat
Complete for us to
Share together
Looking through the window
You can see a distant steeple
Not a sign of people who
Wants people?
When the steeple bell says,
"Good night, sleep well,"
We'll thank the small hotel
Together
We'll creep into our little shell
And we will thank the small hotel together
The lyrics to Claude Thornhill's song "There's A Small Hotel" reflect the desire for a romantic getaway with a loved one. The song is a duet between two characters named Junior and Frankie who are seeking a place where they can enjoy some laughter and have some fun. The lyrics describe a small and cozy hotel with a wishing well and a bridal suite which represents the romantic and intimate ambiance that the two characters are seeking. The description of the steeple and the absence of people around create a sense of seclusion and privacy that enhances the romantic mood of the song. The usage of the phrase "creep into our little shell" signifies the desire for the characters to escape from the world and spend cherished moments together.
Overall, this song favors the idea of seclusion, privacy, and intimacy as key elements in establishing a healthy romantic relationship. The song highlights the importance of having a getaway with one's romantic partner to spend some quality time together in a relaxed and comfortable environment. The lyrics also suggest the need to communicate and laugh together to strengthen the bond between each other.
Line by Line Meaning
I'd like to get away, Junior
I want to escape with you, Junior
Somewhere alone with you
We'll find a place where it's just us, together
It could be oh, so gay, Junior
We'll have a fun time, Junior
You need a laugh
Or two
I want to bring a smile to your face
A certain place I know, Frankie
I have a location in mind, Frankie
Where funny people can have fun
It's a place where people have a good time
That's where the two will go,
Darling
That's where we'll be heading, my love
Before you can count up
One, two, three.
We'll be there in no time
For there's a small hotel
With a wishing well
We'll arrive at a cozy hotel with a wishing well
I wish that we were there together
I dream of being there with you
There's a bridal suite
One room bright and neat
Complete for us to
Share together
We'll stay in a perfect room just for us
Looking through the window
You can see a distant steeple
We'll see a faraway church tower through the window
Not a sign of people who
Wants people?
There's no one around, do people not want other people?
When the steeple bell says,
"Good night, sleep well,"
We'll thank the small hotel
Together
When we hear the bell tolling, we'll thank the hotel
We'll creep into our little shell
And we will thank the small hotel together
We'll retreat to our room and express our gratitude for the lovely hotel
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC, Royalty Network, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: LORENZ HART, RICHARD RODGERS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Trombonology Erstwhile
The nod to "Snowfall" is done so tastefully -- nothing like the often ridiculously incongruous manner in which the Kyser orch. inserted their theme, "Thinking of You" (and I love the Kyser crew!). The great Gil Evans really understood Claude's vision for the band and delivered every time in his writing, with this one being among his best charts. So many of the bandleaders were adding vocal groups at this time, following the example of GM and TD, we might assume; sometimes it worked out well, sometimes not so. The Snowflakes, here comprising Terry Allen, Buddy Stewart, Martha Wayne (Buddy's wife) and Lillan Lane, were one of the finest of the lot. "Who wants people?" asks Lorenz Hart. Well, if you've got to have a quartet to serenade you from beneath the window of the bridal suite, you couldn't hope for a better one than The Snowflakes.
The Greek Spectre
An absolute masterpiece!
💜 Lisa Loves Summer Time 🌞
Another fantastic song and done so beautifully.🎶🌷🕊❣️😊🌹
T D
Love this. One of my favorites.
Giuseppe Sparacino
Wonderful music
One Army
Simply Marvelous.😌
Jourwalis -
Beautiful!
Swingman 56
Judging by the label number, this appears to be another instance where a previously shelved '42 side,emerged to satisfy the needs of the '44 listeners for "fresh" product. A lovely example this is, I might add.