Paul Horn (musician)

Horn was born on March 17, 1930 in New York City and has Jewish roots through his father. The family moved to Washington, D.C. when Horn was four.[2][3][4] He took up the piano at age four, followed by the clarinet at 12. While in Washington, D.C., Horn attended Theodore Roosevelt High School and the Washington College of Music.[3][5] In the summer of 1942, Horn worked as an usher at the Earl Theatre to buy a clarinet.[5] He studied the clarinet and flute at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, earning a bachelor's degree. In June 1953, Horn gained a master's from the Manhattan School of Music.[2][6]

Moving to Los Angeles he played with Chico Hamilton's quintet from 1956 to 1958 and became 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. He scored the 1959 animated television series Clutch Cargo.

In 1960 Horn recorded for Fantasy Records with Latin Jazz vibraphonist Cal Tjader (with drummers Willie Bobo and Mongo Santamaria) for the album Latino! (originally released in 1962 and later re-released with the same title in 1992). He appears playing with his band in the opening scene at the jazz club in Curtis Harrington's film Night Tide.

Horn's Quintet produced jazz albums for Columbia and RCA Victor up until 1966. During this period, he was the subject of a David Wolper television documentary Portrait of a Jazz Musician.

Horn became a practitioner of transcendental meditation.[7] He attended training at the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's ashram along with The Beatles on their 1968 trip to India. Following his experiences in India, Horn's recordings moved from jazz to world and new-age music.

In 1955, Horn married his first wife, Lilian Yvonne Jourdan. By 1959, the marriage had started to fall apart, and their divorce was finalised a few years later.[8] In 1970, he moved with his two sons Marlen and Robin from his marriage, and second wife Tryntje Baum to Victoria, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island. He formed his own quintet and recorded film scores for the National Film Board of Canada.[9]

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.[10]

He lived in British Columbia and Arizona. He was most recently married to the Canadian singer and songwriter Ann Mortifee.[11] Horn died at the age of 84 on June 29, 2014.[7]

On June 25, 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Paul Horn among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.[12]

• Sweet Smell of Success (1957) (with the Chico Hamilton Quintet)
• A Bucket of Blood (1959) (saxophone solo intro)
• The Rat Race (1960) (musician)
• The New Three Stooges (1965) (main title and end credits theme)

Books

• Horn, Paul; Underwood, Lee (1990). Inside Paul Horn: The Spiritual Odyssey of a Universal Traveler. Harper. ISBN 978-0-062-50388-6.

• Paul Horn at IMDb
• Paul Horn discography at Discogs
• Paul Horn at AllMusic