The Roots of Horn in Jazz Pt. 6

 We cannot keep talking about the horn in jazz without talking about some relevant groups that featured the horn back in the day. starting with the Claude Thornhill band. You might be familiar with this name from my first post where I talk about John Graas. Claude Thornhil was a pianist, composer and arranger, who had a jazz band that featured two horns in their standard formation.

 

 

Their influence extended in many directions. Willie Ruff recorded a tune by Thornhill named Snowfall in his Smooth Side album, in an arrangement for a horn choir that is very deep, lush and soft.

 

 A man by the name Gil Evans was playing piano and writing arrangements for the Thornhill band. Their sound was something special, and it was a color that inspired Miles Davis's Birth Of The Cool. When working together with Evans, they envisioned a smooth, soothing and lush sound but with a compact formation. They arrived in the nonet formation that featured trumpet,  Davis (trumpet), Mike Zwerin (trombone), Bill Barber (tuba), Junior Collins (French horn), Gerry Mulligan (baritone saxophone), Lee Konitz (alto saxophone), John Lewis (piano), Al McKibbon (bass), and Max Roach (drums).

 

Still in the Willie Ruff and Miles Davis and Gil Evans and all of this chamber and orchestral jazz talk, we have to talk about Miles Ahead, Porgy and Bess and Sketches Of Spain. In Miles Ahead, Willie Ruff was participating as a side man with Jim Buffington and Tony Miranda. In Porgy and Bess, Willie Was playing next to Julius Watkins. In Sketches Of Spain there was a larger horn section for a larger ensemble, with Tony Miranda, Jim Buffington, Joe Singer, John Barrows and Earl Chapin on the French horns. All of these works were a collaboration between Miles Davis and Gil Evans, taking some ideas of the Thornhill band and taking it to another step. There are no improvised solos in any of these albums by Miles nor by Thornhill, but it is possible to notice the textural blueprint.

 

 

 

 

 Never stop Swingin'!