| James Buffington | |
| Birth Name: | James Lawrence Buffington |
| Birth Date: | 15 May 1922 |
| Birth Place: | Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Death Date: | 20 July 1981 |
| Death Place: | Englewood, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Genre: | jazz |
| Instrument: | French horn |
James Lawrence Buffington (May 15, 1922, Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania – July 20, 1981, Englewood, New Jersey) was an American jazz, studio, and classical hornist.[1]
Buffington was a busy studio and jazz player on the French horn. He was 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.
With Manny Albam
With Gato Barbieri
With Donald Byrd
With Teddy Charles
With Al Cohn
With John Coltrane
With Hank Crawford
With Miles Davis
With Paul Desmond
With Bill Evans
With Gil Evans
With Art Farmer
With Maynard Ferguson
With Curtis Fuller
With Stan Getz
With Dizzy Gillespie
With Jimmy Heath
With Jackie and Roy
With J. J. Johnson
With Quincy Jones
With Yusef Lateef
With Michel Legrand
With Mundell Lowe
With Arif Mardin
With Helen Merrill
With the Modern Jazz Quartet
With Hugo Montenegro
With James Moody
With David "Fathead" Newman
With Houston Person
With Lalo Schifrin
With Don Sebesky
With Sonny Stitt
With Gábor Szabó
With Billy Taylor
With Stanley Turrentine
With Julius Watkins
With Randy Weston
With Phil Woods