“Something to Remember You By”
Composed by Arthur Schwartz (music) and Howard Dietz (lyric); arranged by Gil Evans.
Recorded by Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra for Columbia on February 6, 1942 in New York.
Claude Thornhill, piano, directing: Conrad Gozzo, first trumpet; Randy Brooks and Steve Steck, trumpets; John Graas and Vince Jacobs, French horns; Tasso Harris and Bud Smith, trombones; Danny Polo, B-flat clarinet; Dale Brown and Jack Ferrier, alto saxophones and B-flat clarinets; Ted Goddard and Carl Swift, tenor saxophones and B-flat clarinets; Marty Berman, baritone saxophone and bass clarinet; Barry Galbraith, guitar; Marty Blitz, bass; Lou Fromm, drums; Lillian Lane, Martha Wayne, Dick Harding and Buddy Stewart, vocal.
The story:
The story of the beginning and early years of Claude Thornhill’s band is told in the post here at swingandbeyond.com on his lovely theme song, “Snowfall.” It can be accessed at endnote 1. More information about Claude’s career in the late 1930s, including his meeting with arranger Gil Evans, can be found in the post on “Portrait of a Guinea Farm,” which can be reached via the link at endnote 2.
By the time this recording was made in early 1942, despite some setbacks, Claude Thornhill was on his way to success as a bandleader. Among the important steps he had taken on the road to success were that he had secured a contract to make records for Columbia/Okeh(3), had had a very successful two-month run at Glen Island Casino in New Rochelle, New York starting on March 20, 1941, and most important of all, had become the beneficiary of the professional guidance of the management team that was then operating the highly successful Glenn Miller band. Although Thornhill needed no assistance in directing the musical part of the Thornhill band operation, and had always done so successfully and distinctively, he learned that no matter how successful a band was musically, without strong, aggressive management, his band would not succeed in the marketplace. Management of the business side of the Thornhill band by the Miller organization, starting in 1941, rather quickly caused Thornhill’s fortunes to rise. (Above right: Claude Thornhill in 1941.)
With success Thornhill was able to enlarge his band. By early 1942, the Thornhill aggregation, which is pictured below, included twenty performers, including a vocal quartet.
The Claude Thornhill Orchestra at Glen Island Casino – spring 1942. Front L-R: Claude at the piano; Buddy Stewart, Lillian Lane and Martha Stewart (Dick Harding is mostly hidden), at the microphone; reed players George Paulson (with a flute), Conn Humphries, Jack Ferrier and Ted Goddard; middle: Mike Glass and Vince Jacobs (French horns); Buddy Dean and Danny Polo (clarinets); Tasso Harris and Bud Smith, trombones; back: Marty Blitz (bass); Barry Galbraith (guitar); Irv Cottler, drums; Jake Koven, Conrad Gozzo and Steve Steck, trumpets.
Not shown in the photo above is arranger Gil Evans, who had become a part of the Thornhill organization in August or September of 1941. Gil had basically remained the musical leader of his own band in California, which had operated under the public leadership of vocalist Skinnay Ennis since 1938. The Ennis/Evans band had remained intact because they were the back-up group on the very successful NBC Bob Hope radio show. It was on the Hope show that Evans met Claude Thornhill, who was summoned to Hollywood in 1939 to assist Evans with his arranging. Actually, Claude gave Gil many tips on how to grind-out commercial music efficiently while they collaborated on the Hope show. Claude departed that assignment late in 1939 to begin the process of forming his own band. Evans remained with Ennis into the summer of 1941.(4)
Thornhill and Evans were musically simpatico. In fact, their collaboration in the 1940s ranks as one of the most successful of the swing era, on a par with the Duke Ellington/Billy Strayhorn musical partnership, the Tommy Dorsey/Sy Oliver collaboration, and and the one between Stan Kenton and Pete Rugolo. Whereas Gil Evans had been musically constrained by the commercial imperatives of his association with Skinnay Ennis and Bob Hope, he was liberated by Claude Thornhill, and encouraged to experiment. The result was a good amount of memorable music.
Claude Thornhill and Gil Evans: Theirs was a magical musical association.
The music:
“Something to Remember You By” was introduced in the musical revue Three’s a Crowd, which ran on Broadway at the Selwyn Theater from October 15, 1930 to June 6, 1931. Three’s a Crowd starred Clifton Webb and Fred Allen, and was produced by Max Gordon. It also featured the singer Libby Holman, who introduced “Something to Remember You By,” as well as the great Johnny Green/Edward Heyman song “Body and Soul.” Ms Holman was the first to record “Something to Remember You By” in January of 1930 on the Brunswick label. That recording was not issued, however one made by her in October of 1930, with “Body and Soul” on the other side, was.
The song was also recorded by Helen Morgan on September 12, 1930, for Victor (with the B side being “Body and Soul”). That same year an orchestral version was recorded by Tommy Christian and his Orchestra with vocal by Jack Arthur. Clarinetist Jimmie Noone also recorded this song in 1930. In 1931, Cab Calloway made a recording of it. Then the song seemed to slip out of public performance. The first recording of it by a well-known swing era musician was an instrumental version by trumpeter Ziggy Elman, on the Bluebird label on December 26, 1939.
The emergence of the song shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack coincided with a great upsurge in military conscription in the United States. The song’s lyric and gentle melody were timely then as young men went off to the danger and uncertainty of war.
This performance begins with an introduction that is a perfect melding of the musical ideas of Claude Thornhill and Gil Evans: soft brass chords, warm clarinets, and Thornhill’s glistening piano tones swathed in gently played brass. The tempo is deliciously slow, allowing every nuance of the instrumental colors of Evans’s arrangement to be heard.
The first chorus begins with vocalist Lillian Lane singing the affecting lyric. Her pitch is perfect, her voice quality cool, and her use of vibrato, minimal. She is joined by fellow singers Martha Wayne, Dick Harding and Buddy Stewart in a subtly harmonized supplement to her singing. After this first pass at the main melody, notice how arranger Evans inserts a swell of sound comprised of the four human voices and the many instrumental voices of the Thornhill band. The second eight bars of the main melody are handled deftly by Ms. Lane and her singing colleagues in a way that is slightly different from the first eight bars. The few notes from a French horn after this somehow suggest separation of the lovers because of the deeply disturbing events of World War II that were being grimly reported in the American news media in early 1942. (Above left: Lillian Lane.)
Dick Harding sings the secondary bridge melody in a voice that is complementary with that of Ms. Lane, and the other two singers, whose voices supplement his through this sequence. Once again, Evans magnifies the meaning of the words of the lyric with a swell of vocal and instrumental sounds in the final few bars of the bridge.
Lillian Lane and her colleagues then finish the chorus in straightforward fashion, their voices being supported minimally and subtly by the soft brass and clarinets.
The second chorus begins with an intriguing blend of softly played open brass, including the French horns, a couple of Harmon-muted trumpets to add a glistening quality to the other brass sounds, and a velvety cushion of clarinets, including a bass clarinet. Maestro Thornhill provides piano accompaniment that is spare and subtle.
Ms. Lane and the other three voices return for one final reprise of the main melody.
This is high-content music crafted by Gil Evans that is presented masterfully by Claude Thornhill, his singers and instrumentalists. (At right: Gil Evans.)
The recording presented with this post was digitally remastered by Mike Zirpolo.
Notes and links:
(1) Here is a link to the story and music of Claude Thornhill’s classic recording of “Snowfall.” https://swingandbeyond.com/2016/12/26/snowfall-1941-claude-thornhill/
(2) Here is the prewar Thornhill band creating music in another mood: https://swingandbeyond.com/2017/12/01/portrait-of-a-guinea-farm-1941-claude-thornhill/
(3) In addition to Thornhill’s Columbia/Okeh recordings, Claude made a number of recordings for transcription services in 1941 that are important supplements to the musical heritage left by the early Thornhill band. Those were: on May 22, 1941 for Associated Transcriptions (19 titles); on July 8 for Lang-Worth Transcriptions (21 titles); September 29 for Lang-Worth (10 titles); and spring 1942 for World Transcriptions (10 titles).
(4) Another reason why Gil Evans joined Claude Thornhill when he did is that Thornhill’s main arranger, Bill Borden, entered military service in the summer of 1941.
Here are a couple of recordings by Claude Thornhill’s great postwar band playing Gil Evans arrangements:
Here is another bit of music in the Thornhill/Evans mode:
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