When one evaluates Paul Horn's career, it is as if he were two people, pre- and post-1967. In his early days, Horn was an excellent cool-toned altoist and flutist, while later he became a new age flutist whose mood music is often best used as background music for meditation. Horn started on piano when he was four and switched to alto at the age of 12. After a stint with the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra on tenor, Horn was Buddy Collette's replacement with the popular Chico Hamilton Quintet (1956-1958), playing alto, flute, and clarinet. He became a studio musician in Los Angeles, but also found time during 1957-1966 to record cool jazz albums for Dot (later reissued on Impulse), World Pacific, Hi Fi Jazz, Columbia, and RCA, and he participated in a memorable live session with Cal Tjader in 1959. In addition, in 1964, Horn recorded one of the first Jazz Masses, utilizing an orchestra arranged by Lalo Schifrin. In 1967, Paul Horn studied transcendental meditation in India and became a teacher. The following year, he recorded unaccompanied flute solos at the Taj Mahal (where he enjoyed interacting with the echoes), and would go on to record in the Great Pyramid, tour China (1979) and the Soviet Union, record using the sounds of killer whales as "accompaniment," and found his own label Golden Flute. Most of Paul Horn's work since the mid-'70s is focused on new age rather than jazz. ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide
He is widely known for his innovations on both metal and traditional wood flutes, and has recorded some truly exotic albums. Perhaps most famous of these 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 and continued later with recordings inside Great Pyramid of Giza, and a return to the Taj Mahal in 1989. Horn has since made similar recordings in a cathedral, in the canyons of the Southwest with Native American flautist R. Carlos Nakai, and with orca whales.
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 was to return to Tibet in 2003 to film on the holy Mount Kailash, where Horn would scatter the ashes of former travelling companion, Buddhist monk Lama Tenzin.
While he is undoubtedly a jazz musician, many of his works defy categorization. As well as the Inside series he has recorded other albums of jazz with musicians from a range of cultures and backgrounds including China and Africa.
He now lives in British Columbia with his third wife, singer and songwriter, Ann Mortifee.
Discography
Something Blue (1960)
The Jazz Years (1961)
Profile of a Jazz Musician (1961) with vibraphonist Emil Richards
The Sound of Paul Horn (1961) also with Richards, this album is now on the Profile of a Jazz Musician CD
Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts (1965) with Lalo Schifrin