WBGO Blog

  • Auld Lang Syne 12/31/08 in New Orleans

    December 15, 2011. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Auld Lang Syne, Great Live Moments, toast of the nation

    No guesswork this time .. it's Evan Christopher, clarinet .. Tom McDermott, piano ..

    Matt Perrine, tuba .. Shannon Powell, drums .. Josh Jackson, MC

    Here's the music!

    Here's your ticket!
    Here's your ticket!

    © 2011 WBGO

  • Who's playing this Auld Lang Syne?

    December 13, 2011. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: Auld Lang Syne, Great Live Moments, toast of the nation

    As heard on a recenttoast_of_the_nation_logoand (hint) at 6:30 tonight on JazzSet

    Ever since approximately 1980, WBGO and NPR Music have been presenting live jazz from coast to coast on New Year's Eve. That's a lot of midnights and impromptu versions of Auld Lang Syne, one of the least jazzy of all melodies!

    From now until New Year's Eve, our goal is to post one Auld Lang Syne a day, and ask you who's playing? Can you recognize the musicians, or do you remember the setting? The year? Was it the beginning of a great new year, or the ending of a better one?

    For the 2011 New Year's Eve line-up, visit wbgo.org/toast

    © 2011 WBGO

  • Frank Foster's All Star New York Orchestra Plays Shiny Stockings .. New Year's Eve 1995

    July 28, 2011. Posted by Becca Pulliam.

    Add new comment | Filed under: frank foster, Great Live Moments

    This "Great Live Moment" from WBGO's audio archives is also part of our longer tribute to Frank Foster, which you can read here. Swing Easy, Uncle Frank!

    WBGO had a friend in the late Frank Foster (1928-2011). He and this band of great, name players rang in the New Year with the station at a great party in a ballroom at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, live on WBGO and Cognac Hennessy New Year's Eve Coast to Coast across the country.

    And after midnight Milt Jackson (whose birthday was January 1) stepped up to the vibes for a long, relaxed jam on Foster's signature song. Solos are by Billy Harper (or so I think because someone in the crowd yells "Wild Bill!" after the solo), John Sneider and the late and much-missed Hilton Ruiz. Those trumpet shakes at the end must have put a buzz on the balloons and confetti and inspired the couples on the dance floor.

    Bill Easley, George Coleman, Fostina Dixon, Dave Glasser, Billy Harper, saxophones

    Tony Barrero, Cecil Bridgewater, Jon Faddis, Virgil Jones,  John Sneider, trumpets

    Curtis Fuller, Jack Jeffers, Robert Trowers, Andrew Williams, trombones

    Hilton Ruiz, piano; Earl May, bass; Grady Tate, drums

    © 2011 WBGO