Stephen Richard "Steve" Kujala (Born 1955 ) is an American jazz and studio musician , who specializes in the flute , but initially also played tenor and soprano saxophone and also worked as a songwriter. Life and work : Kujala, whose father is a classical flutist, received his first education from his father. He first studied at New Trier West High School ; During this time, he was awarded seventeen at the Montreux Jazz Festival . He then continued his studies at the Eastman School of Music with Joseph Mariano and his father, Walfrid Kujala. At the same time he formed with other Eastman students such as John Serry, the fusion band Auracle , with whom he impressed at the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival . The group took in 1978 and 1979, two of the critically well-publicized albums for Chrysalis Recordson tour and also in Europe. Since 1982, he belonged to the quintet of Chick Corea ( The Joburg Sessions ); As a duo, Corea and he took in 1984 with Voyage a highly regarded album for ECM Records . Over the next few years, Kujala developed the technique of blending tones (so-called Fretless Flute ) for the Böhm flute , which he particularly highlighted in pieces such as the Fretless Flute Song and the album Fresh Flute ( Columbia Records 1986). He increasingly concentrated on studio work in Los Angeles, playing solos in musicals like The Lion King and became Piccolo flute player of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra , but released more albums under his name.