French Horn Players

Tony Miranda (1919-2001) Miranda received his bachelor’s degree from Brooklyn College, and was a student in the opening year of the Tanglewood Berkshire Center in 1940. He served in the armed forces during World War II, was principal horn with the US Army Band in Washington, DC, and was serving in France when the war ended.

He was principal horn with the New York City Opera (for 12 years), the American Symphony under Arturo Toscanini, the New York Chamber Soloists, Musica Aeterna and the Little Orchestra Society, among others. He was also a member of the Long Island Philharmonic. Among his notable performances, Miranda performed the American premier of the Richard Strauss Horn Concerto No. 2 in Town Hall with Thomas Scherman and the Little Orchestra Society. He was a soloist with orchestras and in recitals and festivals across the country.

He also recorded extensively, with conductors including Toscanini, Morton Gould and Leonard Bernstein and musicians such as Luciano Pavarotti, Frank Sinatra, Percy Faith, Perry Como, the Beatles and Miles Davis. He performed on The Coca Cola Hour and The Sid Caesar Show.

James Buffington (1922-1981) Buffington was a busy studio and jazz player. An autodidact as a child, though his father played piano and trumpet he graduated from the Eastman School of Music and began playing in New York City in the 1950s, with Oscar Pettiford among others. He played with Mel Powell in 1954 and Teddy Charles in 1956.

He is perhaps best known for his work with Miles Davis on some of his Gil Evans sessions for Columbia Records. He has done extensive work as a session musician, and has recorded with Moondog, Carly Simon, James Brown, Urbie Green, Jimmy Cleveland, Ernie Royal, Britt Woodman, Don Butterfield, Donald Byrd, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, J. J. Johnson, Quincy Jones, Thad Jones and Mel Lewis, Michel Legrand, Lee Morgan, Paul Desmond, Eddie Sauter, Oliver Nelson, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Smith, the Modern Jazz Quartet and Grover Washington, Jr.. Late in the 1970s he played with Freddie Hubbard, Gato Barbieri and George Benson; in 1980 he played on a Helen Merrill album.

Buffington released some solo work but it is far less well known.

Earl Chapin (1926-1997) A jazz player, Chapin's credits include those with Gil Evans And His Orchestra, Quincy Jones And His Orchestra, The Everest Woodwind Octet and The Quincy Jones Big Band.

Ray Alonge (1924-2000) Jazz player who also played  the alphorn and violoncello. He played with ... Mitch Miller, Stan Freeman, John Barrows, Jim Buffington, Gunther Schuller, etc.