Herbert (Sonny) Ausman, second trombonist in the LA Phil for 45 years, has died at the age of 78.
His colleague, Ralph Sauer, writes:
Herbert (“Sonny”) Medlar Ausman III passed away yesterday, just a few days after his birthday on July 28. He was 78 years old. Sonny and I have known each other for over 60 years, beginning in college at the Eastman School of Music. As part of his scholarship, he was assigned
to wait on tables at dinner. At that time, dinner at the men’s dormitory was a rather formal affair. Unfortunately, Sonny had the “trombone” table. We always left things in a mess to initiate the new freshman trombone player. Little did I know that we would be sitting next to each other innthe Los Angeles Philharmonic for 32 years.
The low brass section (Ausman, Bobo, Peebles, Reynolds, Sauer) was a close knit group. When the winter season was over, everyone in the orchestra went their own way, but not us. We went on vacations together. Those vacations were more like adventures with Baja (Mexico) figuring prominently. We were more than friends and colleagues—we were brothers.
There are so many stories. We performed Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin many times with many different conductors, however the one with Pierre Boulez is particularly memorable. Trombone players will know the technical passage that is passed back and forth in the two tenor trombones. Sonny absolutely owned that part. (According to Jeff Reynolds, Sonny’s playing of that part was a major reason he won the LA Phil position. Zubin Mehta was stunned.) At the first rehearsal, Boulez stopped the orchestra just before the trombone
passage and asked us to play the part alone. I don’t think he did this to put us on the spot, but rather to see how fast we could play it. He just wanted to set the best tempo for the passage that was within our abilities. Sonny took off like a bat out of hell, and we absolutely nailed it, even though it was hard for me to keep up with him. The whole orchestra applauded, and Pierre just smiled.
Deepest condolences to Sonny’s wife Erica, daughters Amanda and Emma, and to his extended family. Sonny was one of a kind and will be in our hearts forever.
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