An obituary for Paul Horn has been published in The Times. It goes like this:
Paul Horn little knew when he made an experimental flute recording in the Taj Mahal that he was effectively launching the genre of New Age music. The resulting 1968 album Inside sold a million copies.
The musician was better known for his virtuoso solos performed on film soundtracks such as The Sweet Smell of Success. However, like many showbusiness people in the Sixties, he was diverted from Hollywood towards Eastern mysticism and studied alongside the Beatles with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
Realising that he was on to something, Horn went on to record in other exotic locations, including the Great Pyramid of Cheops and the cathedral in Vilnius, and he recorded meditation music for the rest of his life.
Born in New York in 1930, Horn started piano lessons as a young child and began studying the saxophone at 12. After studying music, he joined the experimental jazz big band led by the arrangers Bill Finegan and Eddie Sauter. He was the main tenor saxophone soloist on their 1956 album Under Analysis. Moving to California the same year, he joined the quintet led by the drummer Chico Hamilton (obituary, December 16, 2013). Using the cello and flute as its main solo instruments, the group specialised in contrasting light ethereal textures with more brooding dark timbres.
The whole obituary is available for The Times subscribers here.