Seven-Time Grammy Winner Paul Winter to Release New Album, “Horn of Plenty,” on November 21
Seven-time Grammy® award-winner Paul Winter’s new album, Horn of Plenty, will be released on November 21, 2025, in time for Thanksgiving. Showcasing the soprano sax of Paul Winter with the Paul Winter Consort, the album features special guests from Brazil, Russia, Ireland, Romania, and Armenia, along with the voices of Dolphin, Wood Thrush, Blue Whale, and Timber Wolf.
The Paul Winter Consort will present the concert premiere of Horn of Plenty in their first-ever Thanksgiving celebration at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Ave., NYC, at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 29, 2025.
The genesis of Horn of Plenty was a request from NPR to create a new radio hour celebrating Thanksgiving. The traditional symbol of Thanksgiving – the cornucopia – gave Winter his theme: the “horn of plenty,” which symbolizes the abundance of life. When the “Horn of Plenty” program aired on NPR on Thanksgiving Day 2024, Winter was inspired to expand the musical repertoire of the program into an album by the same title.
Winter has always thought of his instrument, the soprano sax, as a “horn.”
“I actually aspire to produce a voice on saxophone that is similar to that of a French horn,” Winter says. “I feel a deep sense of gratitude to my horn for how it has been for me a kind of ‘magic carpet,’ carrying me to a lifetime of adventures in many places around the world. This album was a rare opportunity to put forth pieces that feature my playing in consort with longtime musical colleagues, along with the voices of several special guests, both two-legged and otherwise. Horn of Plenty presents my horn in a diversity of settings, in celebration of the cornucopia of creatures and cultures of our glorious Earth.”
Horn of Plenty is dedicated to Winter’s longtime friend and mentor Roger Payne (1936 – 2023), who brought to the world the songs of the humpback whales. Payne, in one of his last interviews, declared that if, in our listening, “we fall in love with whales, then we fall in love with nature and fall in love with the whole world.” The Consort presents here a new composition, in tribute to Payne, titled “Song to Roger.”
Other highlights include “Harvest Faire,” inspired by Paul Winter’s years of listening to Bulgarian music and love of the unique rhythms of Balkan cultures. “Primavera (Spring)” traces its origins to Paul Winter’s jazz sextet’s 1962 tour of Latin America, when Winter met the song’s composer, Carlos Lyra. Many years later, Winter was blessed to have the opportunity to record “Primavera” with the great Brazilian guitarist Oscar Castro-Neves. Three pieces on Horn of Plenty include voices from what Winter calls “the greater symphony of the Earth,” saluting our three realms of ocean (Dolphin), air (Wood Thrush), and land (Wolf). Also showcased are reinterpretations of several iconic chestnuts from Winter’s odyssey, including Ralph Towner’s composition, “Icarus,” which has been the Consort’s theme song for over fifty years.
ABOUT PAUL WINTER:
From the early days of his college jazz sextet, which toured 23 countries of Latin America for the State Department and performed the first-ever jazz concert at the White House for the Kennedys in 1962, to his later ensemble, the Paul Winter Consort, Paul Winter’s concert tours and recording expeditions have taken him to 52 countries and to wilderness areas on six continents, where he has traveled on rafts, dog sleds, mules, kayaks, tug-boats and Land Rovers. He has recorded over 60 albums, seven of which have been honored with Grammy® Awards.
Horn of Plenty will be available from on major streaming platforms, and CDs will be available at www.paulwinter.com.
Album Details: Horn of Plenty
Release date: November 21, 2025
Label: Living Music
SRP: $10 digital download; $15 CD
Run time: 67 minutes
TRACK LIST:
- Dolphin Morning – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Paul Halley, piano and organ
- The Well-Tempered Wood Thrush – Wood Thrush, vocal; Paul Winter, soprano sax; Eugene Friesen, cello; Henrique Eisenmann, fortepiano; Peter Slavov, bass; Rogerio Boccato, drums
- Grand Canyon Sunrise – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Paul Halley, piano; Glen Velez, bendir (Moroccan desert drum
- Caravan at Dawn – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Arto Tuncboyaciyan, vocal/percussion; Mickey Hart, RAMU; Jordan Rudess, keyboards; Vardan Grigoryan, zurna
- Blues Cathedral – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Paul Halley, organ
- Primavera (Spring) – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Oscar Castro-Neves, guitar; Paul Halley, organ
- Land of the Pipers – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Jerry O’Sullivan, Uilleann pipes; Eugene Friesen, cello; Zan McLeod, guitar; Jim Beard, keyboards; Dorothy Papadakos, pipe organ; Eliot Wadopian, bass; Arto Tuncboyaciyan, percussion
- Song to Roger – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Eugene Friesen, cello; Henrique Eisenmann, piano
- Wolf Eyes – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Eugene Friesen, cello; Warren Bernhardt, piano; Jeff Holmes, piano; Oscar Castro-Neves, guitar/synthesizer; Dave Carpenter, bass
- Garden of the Earth – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Eugene Friesen, cello; Paul Halley, piano; Russ Landau, bass; Ted Moore, drums; The Dmitri Pokrovsky Singers
- Triumph – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Paul Halley, pipe organ; Davy Spillane, Uilleann pipes
- Harvest Faire – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Davy Spillane, Uilleann pipes; Eugene Friesen, cello; Damish Draghici, pan flute; Zan McLeod, guitar; Paul Halley, piano; Jordan Rudess, keyboards; Eliot Wadopian, bass; Arto Tuncboyaciyan, percussion
- Icarus – Paul Winter, soprano sax; Jeff Boratko, bassoon; Eugene Friesen, cello; Theresa Thomason, voice; Henrique Eisenmann, piano
Horn of Plenty Premiere Concert
The Paul Winter Consort’s first-ever Thanksgiving celebration at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, presenting the concert premiere of Paul Winter’s new album, Horn of Plenty, celebrating the cornucopia and diversity of the family of life.
WHERE: Cathedral of St. John the Divine, 1047 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10025
WHEN: 7:30 p.m., Saturday, November 29, 2025
ADMISSION: $100/$75
TO PURCHASE TICKETS: Visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine website HERE.
To schedule an interview with Paul Winter or to request a Horn of Plenty download link or CD, please contact Elizabeth Waldman at Waldmania PR: 415-203-0220 or elizabeth@waldmaniapr.com.
