White Elephant (band)

The White Elephant Orchestra,^[1][2] later known as White Elephant, otherwise known as Mike Mainieri & Friends, was a jazz-rock big band made up of session and studio musicians based in New York City.^[1]

Set up in the late 1960s as an experimental ensemble,^[1] under the direction of Mike Mainieri (arranger, composer, keyboards, liner notes, percussion, producer & vocals), band members included Michael Brecker (tenor), Frank Vicari (tenor), George Young (alto) and Ronnie Cuber (baritone) on saxes; Randy Brecker, Jon Faddis and Lew Soloff on trumpets; Barry Rogers & Jon Pierson on trombones; as well as Steve Gadd, Tony Levin, Donald MacDonald, Warren Bernhardt, Joe Beck, David Spinozza and Hugh McCracken in the rhythm section. The band also included Nick Holmes (songwriter & vocalist), Sue Manchester (vocalist), and Annie Sutton, aka Ann E. Sutton, (vocalist).^[3]

For the most part, their music was the result of late night jam sessions of various musicians who gathering in New York recording studios.^[2] They released one eponymous double LP, simply called White Elephant, on Just Sunshine Records in 1972.^[4] The final track on side 4 is a 7:10 version of "Auld Lang Syne". A promotional 7-inch single with two shorter versions of the song was sent to radio stations in time for the New Year.^[5]