Jackie Cain & Roy Kral: Auld Lang Syne

When three French hens showed up for the gig, they were informed as delicately as possible that the summons had been for three French horns, not hens. They stuck around anyway to hear Jackie & Roy's sextetwhich included an equal number of men and women. (In jazz, the French hens knew, gender parity is a rarity.) Jackie & Roy's sprightly rendition of the traditional Scottish ode sung at midnight on New Year's Eve sought to "ring out the old, swing in the new" and encouraged revelers to "bop away at work and play." The French hens clucked their approval, and when the clock struck 12, bopped "Happy New Year!" in perfect 3-part harmony with the rest of the revelers.