1. Snowfall
2. Loch Lomond
3. Doll Dance {from Hollywood Music Bix Revue}
4. O Sole Mio
5. Hungarian Dance No, 5
6. Träumerei (Dreaming) {from Kinderszenen}
7. Portrait of a Guinea Farm
8. Where or When {from Babes in Arms}
9. Autumn Nocturne
10. Buster's Last Stand
11. There's a Small Hotel {from On Your Toes}
12. Under the Willow Tree
13. Arab Dance {from The Nutcracker}
14. I Get the Blues When It Rains
15. Sunday Kind of Love - Claude Thornhill
16. I Knew You When
17. Early Autumn
18. Paloma (Grey Dove)
19. Anthropology
20. Robbins' Nest
21. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
22. Donna Lee
23. Yardbird Suite
24. Let's Call It a Day {from Strike Me Pink}
Thornhill’s pastel-hued and
evocative composition that gives this album
its title is an attractive one though it’s
betrayed by the limitations of its ambitions.
A mini tone poem was perhaps the obvious offshoot
of his interest in jazzing the classics, as
the numerous examples here show, and yet it
took an arranger of embryonic greatness –
the young Gil Evans – truly to get to grips
with Tchaikovsky et al and then to propel
the band in a subtly altered direction. With
Thornhill you take your pick; bloated novelty
arrangements or innovative mood music? Proto-Bop
or flash-in-the-pan luck with arrangers?
However you cut your big
band mustard we get six years in the life
of the band – up until shortly before Thornhill’s
enforced early retirement through ill health.
The Schumann is a twee relaxer – all simpering
clarinets and muted brass, then a fortissimo
trumpet blast to let us know we’re still in
the Land of Jazz. Much better is his Portrait
of a Guinea Farm, though even here the
exotica and spice is put on. His Teddy Wilson
inspired piano playing gets an outing on Where
or When where he’s joined by – must be
– Irving Fazola. Powerhouse trumpeter Conrad
Gozzo takes a few brassy outings as do a few
vocalists and The Snowflakes, a vocal ensemble
for whom the instruction Melt would
have been in order.
But above all it’s Gil Evans’
arrangements that stand the test of time.
Listen to La Poloma and its colouristic
subtlety – so much more advanced, creative
and forward thinking than Thornhill’s own
sweet-but-anodyne Snowfall. The later
tracks are enlivened by Lee Konitz and Red
Rodney whose solos are a tonic – try Evans’
arrangement of Yardbird Suite.
Copies are good – apart,
funnily enough from a rather swishy Loch
Lomond (one of his Big Hits for Maxine
Sullivan) – and the notes tend to stress Thornhill’s
light music credentials at the expense of
the later band’s contemporary feel.
Jonathan Woolf
CD Reviews
LIVING ERA CD AJA 5542 [76.54]
