Home » Jazz Musicians » Paul Horn

Paul Horn

Paul Horn began playing the piano at the age of four, the clarinet at ten, and the saxophone at twelve. He studied the clarinet and flute at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, earning a bachelor's degree. He gained a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Moving to Los Angeles he played with Chico Hamilton's Quintet from 1956 to 1958 and recorded his debut album Something Blue in 1960. By now an established West Coast session player he played on the Duke Ellington Orchestra's Suite Thursday and worked with Nat King Cole, Tony Bennett and others. In 1970, he moved with his second wife Tryntje and two sons Marlen and Robin from his first marriage to Victoria, British Columbia on Vancouver Island. He formed his own quintet and has recorded film scores for the National Film Board of Canada. He was known for his innovations on both metal and traditional wooden flutes. Best known of his albums are his "Inside" recordings, which feature airy, echoing sounds created in places of spiritual importance. The series began with Horn sneaking a tape recorder into the Taj Mahal during a trip to India in 1968, (released as Inside) where he was with The Beatles at Rishikesh, and continued later with recordings inside the Great Pyramid of Giza, and a return to the Taj Mahal in 1989. Horn later made similar recordings in a cathedral, in the canyons of the Southwestern United States with Native American flautist R. Carlos Nakai, and with Orcas. In 1998 he was able to record within the walls of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, Tibet. Horn was the first westerner to be granted permission to perform inside this massive structure, considered the spiritual nexus of Tibetan Buddhism. Horn returned to Tibet in 2003 to film on the holy Mount Kailash, where he scattered the ashes of his former travelling companion, Buddhist monk Lama Tenzin. While well practiced as a jazz musician, many of his works defy such categorization. As well as the Inside series, he recorded other albums of jazz with musicians from a range of cultures and backgrounds including China and Africa. He lived in British Columbia and the American Southwest. He was married to the Canadian singer and songwriter Ann Mortifee.


Tags

Video / DVD

Paul Horn: 'Night Tide' (1961)

Paul Horn: 'Night Tide' (1961)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Last week, Bill Kirchner sent along a gorgeous print of Night Tide (1961), a convoluted, miserably written psych thriller directed by Curtis Harrington. It co-stars Dennis Hopper, in his first lead role, and Linda Lawson. Filmed in 1960 and screened in 1961, the movie wasn't widely released until 1963, probably because the Navy first had to figure out what it was about. What's notable for readers is that flutist Paul Horn is featured in the opening scene at a club. ...

Video / DVD

Paul Horn: Story of Jazz Musician

Paul Horn: Story of Jazz Musician

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers


1

Obituary

Paul Horn (1930-2014)

Paul Horn (1930-2014)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Paul Horn, a West Coast saxophonist, clarinetist and flutist who added edgy sophistication and nocturnal cool to chamber jazz ensembles in the 1950s and went on to pioneer World jazz in the '60s and beyond, died on June 29 after a brief illness. He was 84. Horn began recording with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra in 1956 but soon joined the Chico Hamilton Quintet in 1956 and '57, appearing with the group in the movie Sweet Smell of Success (1957). He also ...

TV / Film

Documentary: Paul Horn

Documentary: Paul Horn

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers

Don't know much about Paul Horn? The 83-year-old flutist and saxophonist was a pioneer of mystical or New Age jazz in the late 1960s and beyond. But in the early '60s, Horn was straddling traditional jazz and jazz-classical and beginning to nibble at the avant-garde. Reader Peter Campbell in Cairo, Egypt, sent along YouTube links to a fascinating hour-long Horn documentary, The Story of a Jazz Musician (1962). The film was produced by David L. Wolper [pictured]—an early short-form documentary ...

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Stretchin' Out

Nagel Heyer Records
2023

buy

Plenty Of Horn

Soul Note
2008

buy

Africa

Soul Note
2001

buy

Brazilian Images

Soul Note
1991

buy

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.