Arnette Cobb, Saxophone, 1918, Houston, TX
Arnette learned the piano, violin, and trumpet before finally settling with the tenor sax. Around 1935-37 he worked around his home- town with Frank Davis, Chester Boone, and Milt Larkin before joining Lionel Hampton's orchestra as Illinois Jacquet's replacement. Cobb remained with Lionel's band until the mid '40s, when he decided to leave and form his own band. After undergoing a serious spine operation in 1948, Arnette returned with his band and resumed performing and touring. An automobile accident in the mid '50s left him unable to walk without the aid of crutches, but he again resumed playing, and from the early '60s led a big-band and managed the Ebony Club in Houston. He conducted his band in relative obscurity until 1973 when he played at Town Hall in New York ,and made his first tour of Europe where he was enthusiastically received. In the latter part of the 1970s he toured with Jacquet and Buddy Tate as a member of the group, Texas Tenors. Cobb's large, emotional sound was particularly popular in France.
Claude Thornhill, Piano/Leader, 1909, Terre Haute, IN
Claude studied composition and piano at the Cincinnati Conservatory and the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia before recording with Bud Freeman, Chick Bullock, and Billie Holiday in the mid '30s. He later played and recorded with Benny Goodman, Ray Noble and Maxine Sullivan. He was also active as an arranger for radio orchestras and various jazz bands. During the 1940s Claude '40s had his own orchestra, with arrangers Gil Evans and Bill Borden working for him. His band members included modernists like Gerry Mulligan, and Lee Konitz. He developed a unique,original big-band sound that emphasized many new textures and sounds usually heard in classical music, utilizing instruments like the french horn, tuba, and bass clarinet. Gil Evans' arrangement of "Anthropology" is a beautiful example of the Thornhill's style. His style later influenced Miles Davis' work in the late '40s, and many of the modern musicians who followed. Claude Thornhill died in 1965.
Chuck Israels, Bass, 1936, New York, NY
Sal Pace, Clarinet, 1910, White Plains, NY
