Claude Thornhill: The 1948 Transcription Performances

[medjuck]

I've been on a Thornhill jag recently but re-listening to this cd made me want to recommend it in the sense of "if you're only going to buy one Claude Thornhill

cd this is the one to get". Not only is the sound better than on most of the others I have, but of the 23 cuts 15 of them are arranged by Gil Evans and four by Gerry Mulligan. There's a lot of Lee Knonitz and Barry Galbraith solos and a few by Mulligan including a brief one on which he plays tenor.

They even play Godchild which I thought originated with the Miles Davis Nontet. ( Is Thornhill's the first recording of it?)

The only Thornhill highlight missing from this disc is Evans' arrangement of part of Mussorsky's (sp?) Pictures at an Exhibition which Evans titled The Troubadour or somehting like that. I think it's only available on Masters of Jazz cd containing all of Gil's instrumental arrangements for Thornhill.

[Jeff]

1948 is an outstanding collection of classic Thornhill on the Hep label!

I believe The Troubador is also available on Hep #74 as Volume 2 of the 1946-47 Transcription Performances. You might check it out on Amazon.

Edited September 9, 2008 by JeffK

[Free For All]

Those Gil charts are really fascinating- you can see where many of the concepts (instrumentation for one) of the Birth of the Cool and other future Miles projects were being developed. The charts Gil did on the Bird tunes were amazing- as new as those tunes were at that point, Gil seemed to have digested them thoroughly and come up with his own interpretation. Even his early projects had that highly developed harmonic, melodic and rhythmic vocabulary.

The Thornhill band was way too hip (and big!), that's probably why they weren't as commercially successful as some of the other bands.

[ghost of miles]

I'll second (third? fourth?) Medjuck's rec on this one. I've got all of the Thornhill Heps, and this indeed might well be the best one. Cool that you're on a Thornhill kick, Medjuck--he grew up about 40 minutes away from here in Terre Haute. I'm planning to do some kind of special--Night Lights or otherwise--for his centenary next August.

[Rooster_Ties]

I've always wondered about Gil's arranging for Thornhill, but have never had a clue where to start.

Am I right in assuming this would be the best (perhaps the very best) place to start??

Edited September 9, 2008 by Rooster_Ties

[medjuck]

I'd say yes, either this or The Masters of Jazz cd which may be hard to come by. However I notice that there's also a disc from 1949 but I've never heard it.

[gmonahan]

I'd say yes, either this or The Masters of Jazz cd which may be hard to come by. However I notice that there's also a disc from 1949 but I've never heard it.

Wasn't that 1948 Transcriptions disc originally issued on Hindsight? I like Hep's 1946-47 Performances, Vol. 2, which is HEP 74. Nice cross-section of his work at that time with most of the studio Evans and Mulligan material. "Anthropology," with that amazing Lee Konitz solo, is still one of my all-time favorite big band tracks.

Greg Mo

[Big Beat Steve]

I'd say yes, either this or The Masters of Jazz cd which may be hard to come by. However I notice that there's also a disc from 1949 but I've never heard it.

Wasn't that 1948 Transcriptions disc originally issued on Hindsight? I like Hep's 1946-47 Performances, Vol. 2, which is HEP 74. Nice cross-section of his work at that time with most of the studio Evans and Mulligan material. "Anthropology," with that amazing Lee Konitz solo, is still one of my all-time favorite big band tracks.

Greg Mo

If the 1948 Transcriptions disc you are referring to is Hep CD 17, then the Answer is NO.

I haven't been able to compare the track listings quickly but I'd say the source for this one is the previous Hep LP 17 that includes 14 tracks from 1948 and 1 from 1949.

Hindsight LP 108 has tracks from 1947 (at least that's what the liner notes say).

[gmonahan]

I'd say yes, either this or The Masters of Jazz cd which may be hard to come by. However I notice that there's also a disc from 1949 but I've never heard it.

Wasn't that 1948 Transcriptions disc originally issued on Hindsight? I like Hep's 1946-47 Performances, Vol. 2, which is HEP 74. Nice cross-section of his work at that time with most of the studio Evans and Mulligan material. "Anthropology," with that amazing Lee Konitz solo, is still one of my all-time favorite big band tracks.

Greg Mo

If the 1948 Transcriptions disc you are referring to is Hep CD 17, then the Answer is NO.

I haven't been able to compare the track listings quickly but I'd say the source for this one is the previous Hep LP 17 that includes 14 tracks from 1948 and 1 from 1949.

Hindsight LP 108 has tracks from 1947 (at least that's what the liner notes say).

You're right. All I had to do was dig the LP out and look at it! Too lazy....

Greg Mo

[AllenLowe]

not to change the subject, but has anyone else noticed how much the Thornhill vocalist Gene Williams sounds like Harry Connick on "Sorta Kinda?" It's very strange -

[Chuck Nessa]

not to change the subject, but has anyone else noticed how much the Thornhill vocalist Gene Williams sounds like Harry Connick on "Sorta Kinda?" It's very strange -

Probably the other way around. Historians would get this right.

[medjuck]

IThere's a lot of Lee Knonitz and Barry Galbraith solos and a few by Mulligan including a brief one on which he plays tenor.

They even play Godchild which I thought originated with the Miles Davis Nontet. ( Is Thornhill's the first recording of it?)

To answer my own question (at least in part) the Nontet was recorded playing Godchild at the Royal Roost on September 4, 1948 but didn't do an official studio recording until January 21 of 1949. Meanwhile the Thornhill band did a transcription in October of '48. Mulligan did similar charts for each of the bands.