The Best "Auld Lang Syne" Ever Recorded

Last year we posted the story behind the Hollywood Trombones and their Christmas album released in 1990, in our opinion, one of the best collections of holiday music ever recorded. The link to last year's post is in the sidebar under "Most Popular." We have no control over what posts show up under that heading.  A bot does the counting and automatically fills in the "Most Popular" according to the number of hits. The Hollywood Trombones, "Auld Lang Syne," post never left the list, even through the heat of summer. We've lost track of the number of times the audio has been downloaded, a testimony to its lasting quality.  Take a look at last year's blog post for the full story of The Hollywood Trombones.

Don Waldrop gave us permission to offer the file again this year. (Um... right, Don?) You won't find a more moving rendition of "Auld Ang Syne" anywhere and it's definitely the one to play tonight at midnight. Feel free to download it.

Give it a listen. It will make you want to quit coming down hard on trombonists and telling trombone jokes. That's how it has affected us...kind of...almost...unless, of course, the joke is really, really funny...or really funny, or sort of funny...or almost funny...or makes you grin a little.

Here once again is the Bob Florence arrangement of "Auld Lang Syne," from the album, "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas."  Give it a listen and see if you don't agree that this is the most beautiful "Auld Lang Syne" ever recorded.

The first solo is Don Waldrop playing the melody, then Chauncey Welsch plays the jazz.

This is the one to play at midnight tonight!

Thank You, Don.

Photos of the Hollywood Christmas trombonists in Don's yard overlooking Hollywood in the eighties.  There was no standing audience for these nocturnal concerts, but the sounds echoed through the Hollywood hills, around people's homes and warmed the valley with gorgeous sounds.

Back row: Bob Payne, Gary Wasserman, Charlie Loper, Roy Main, Miles Anderson, Chauncey Welsch, Bill Tole and Bill Booth, tenor trbs;

Front row: Don Waldrop, contrabass trb, Phil Teele, bass trb, Alan Johnson, bass trb.

Photos by Nelson Halt (deceased).

Don Waldrop

Thanks again Don

and

A MOST PROSPEROUS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!