Claude Thornhill - A Birthday Rememberance

Claude Thornhill's birthday is August 10th. I am a few weeks late in getting this posted  but I wanted to do something special on the show this week. When I was in college I had a friend who was still in high school. We went to the same school but I had different teachers than he did. He became friendly with his history teacher and told him of my interest in Big Bands and Old Radio etc.  He invited us over to his house and we went to the basement where he had his record collection. He asked me one time if I had anything by Claude Thornhill in my collection. I had to say no as I was interested in Shaw and Goodman at that time. He lent me one of his Thornhill records and I was hooked.

This was the first album of Claude's music that I listened to. The band was so different from those that I was listening to. I have since added several of Claude's records , now cd's, to my collection.

I was surprised to learn that Artie Shaw and Claude were roommates in Cleveland. This was after I had moved or I would have tried to locate the restaurant they were playing at. It' surprising to see how many different covers of his original composition have been recorded. On the program today I tried to present a varied selection of the Thornhill band. I hope you enjoy it.