Ken Wiley has got to be the hardest working French horn player in contemporary jazz. On the one hand, he’s a highly sought-after session musician on the L.A. scene, whose credits include contributions to Walter Murphy’s exceptional soundtracks for Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and American Dad. He’s also a prolific composer and performer with impressive jazz bona fides, whose career highlights include appearances alongside bassists John Patitucci and Jimmy Johnson, as well as with saxophonist Charlie Rouse and bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Jazz Orchestra.
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Ken Wiley is a French horn player, composer and producer with a long and varied musical career. A graduate of the Manhattan School of Music in New York, he is now considered one of the top studio musicians in Los Angeles, and his impressive career highlights include appearances with Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra and the Charlie Rouse Quintet. He’s also performed alongside bassists John Patitucci and Jimmy Johnson, as well as with guitarists Mike Miller and Grant Geissman.
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Talented French horn virtuoso Ken Wiley comes next with his Urban Horn Project. The song “Mingling” also features nice flute work by Dan Higgins.
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French horn is not a common solo instrument in jazz, often found in ensembles to add musical color such as in Gil Evans orchestrations or Hall Overton’s Big Band arrangements of Thelonious Monk for Monk’s legendary Town Hall Concert. Wiley is among those who have provided more prominence to the instrument and on this disc he has put together eleven interpretations of some famous jazz compositions…
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Busy French horn player Ken Wiley is joined by the crème de la crème of the L.A. jazz elite on his new album. Gil Evans always featured multiple French horns in his signature arrangements, and I love the warm sound of the instrument in jazz.
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French horn player Ken Wiley begins the next set with a nice version of Freddie Hubbard's classic "Little Sunflower."
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