Guy LombardoGuy Lombardo was born on this date in 1902. For those who don't know, he was a bandleader and his band was called The Royal Canadians: “The most beautiful music this side of heaven.”. He was famous for his soupy-sounding saxophones coupled with clarinets and trumpets with cup mutes, all backed by two pianos.
He was famous for playing Auld Lang Syne on New Year's Eve, usually from the ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria in New York. He also played at the Roosevelt Hotel, both in New York and New Orleans.
My father thought Lombardo hung the moon. We had every record the man ever made. I memorized them all through my youth. Yes, I thought they were corny, but not as corny as Lawrence Welk. My dad loved Lombardo so much that we often travelled to New Orleans to stay in the Roosevelt and listened to the band night after night. Daddy even dragged us to New York for the same reason.
My father always said that if he could live his life over he would have been an "orchestra leader." It was only years later, when I became an orchestra leader, that I realized I was fulfilling one of my father's dreams.
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