Winter, Paul (Theodore) (1939– )

US bandleader and composer. Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, he learned saxophone as a child musician and toured with the Ringling Brothers Circus at age 17. In 1961 his college sextet won a 23-country tour of Latin America. He formed the Paul Winter Consort in 1967 and began mixing folk, classical, ethnic, and jazz forms, creating what he called ‘Earth music’, a prototype of New Age music. Dedicated to worldwide cultural and environmental issues, the Consort performs in many benefit concerts and has won many humanitarian awards.