In 1980 Arno Hecht, Crispin Cioe, Bob Funk and Paul Litteral met up in the underground NYC rock world of The Peppermint Lounge, The Mudd Club and Tramps and together formed the Uptown Horns. After a year-long development period playing Tuesday nights at Tramps playing with everyone from Big Joe Turner and the Neville Brothers to Ronnie Spector and David Johannsen, the first big session as a group came with Iggy Pop on his "Party" album.

Pop said at that time: "You guys are ugly, I'm going to make you pretty". Shortly thereafter, The J. Geils Band took the section out on the "Freeze Frame Tour", establishing the Uptown Horns as a world class group. A long run of live and studio work was to follow. Their recording credits on over 150+ albums include James Brown's Grammy Award winning Living in America. They appeared with artists such as the Rolling Stones, Robert Plant, Ray Charles, BB King, etc. in concert in North America, Japan and Western Europe. Performance/recording credits also include Tom Waits, Joe Cocker, Albert Collins, Bonnie Raitt, Robert Palmer, Lou Reed and REM.

The Horns appeared in the Imax film "Live to the Max" with the Rolling Stones. Appearances on national and international television include the Tonight Show w/Johnny Carson, Late Night w/David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, The Today Show, etc. as well as recordings for major motion picture soundtracks, including the Oscar winning "When We were Kings". The Horns' composition, production and performance credits also include ESPN, TNT, The Food Channel, HBO and The Comedy Channel as well as the critically acclaimed CD The Uptown Horns Revue.