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French Horn in Jazz
While the French Horn is primarily used in classical music literature, in the mid 20th century the French Horn broke into the jazz world. The role of the French Horn in jazz has developed from its beginnings in the 1940s through to today.

Beginnings
The Claude Thornhill Orchestra was the group to incorporate the French horn into a jazz ensemble. In early 1940, the Claude Thornhill Orchestra had moved out to southern California. During this time, the Thornhill band was moving jazz in an entirely new direction, creating an entirely new sound. Thornhill's original band was comprised of twelves musicians, all playing traditionally "jazz" instruments. When Thornhill hired Bill Borden as an arranger, they created a group with a more orchestral style. Their new sound involved using instruments that were not typical to jazz and mixing unusual instrument voicing.

Around the same time, Julius Watkins joined a six-member jazz band playing French horn. Watkins had previously worked and toured with Ernie Fields' band for three years, only playing extra trumpet parts as needed. The band played together for a short while, about a year, and then dissolved in 1943. After playing in dance bands for a few years, Watkins was offered to play in Milt Buckner's jazz band in Detroit. He then found himself in high demand, as the only jazz horn player in the mid-west. Watkins played not only with Buckner's band on recording dates but also with Milt Jackson's small group. He recorded his first featured solo tune with Buckner's band in 1949, a song titled "Yesterdays."

In the 1950s, hearing the French horn in jazz was not as common as one might think even though bands had been using them for almost a decade already. Lionel Hampton's band rather haphazardly picked up Willie Ruff on French horn in 1954.