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Art Christmas (December 22, 1905September 24, 1961) was a Canadian dance band and
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
musician. For many years during the exciting dance band and jazz era of the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, Art Christmas was often said to be Britain's leading saxophone player and multi-instrumentalist. In the 1930s and 1940s, young musicians in their teens and early twenties would follow Art all over Britain listening to him play and trying to copy his style, especially on
alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgians, Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭ ( ...
.


Beginning

Art's professional music career really started when he was 19 years old. He left Canada to play trumpet with the Orchestra, touring all over the United States and then on to Britain. While in Britain, he was given the opportunity to play trumpet with
Paul Specht Paul Specht (March 24, 1895 – April 11, 1954) was an American dance bandleader popular in the 1920s. Biography Born in Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania, Specht was a violinist, having been taught by his father Charles G. Specht, a violinist, org ...
's Canadian Club Orchestra in 1926 and really never looked back. The
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
Magazine detailed this orchestra's strengths by saying: "A ten-piece combination, its members, who are all Canadians, between them account for thirty-five different instruments. There are three vocalists in the outfit. Art Christmas, the first trumpet, is also a red-hot 'dirt' sax player." Still in Britain, Art went on to play with the New Prince's Toronto Band also in 1926. This band was the resident band at the New Prince's restaurant in
Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...
. The band was made up of fellow Canadians and was directed by Hal Swain. It was when Hal Swain left the band, that at Alfie Noakes' behest, Art joined and took Hal Swain's place. The band was about to embark on a continental tour but first took some time fulfilling a recording contract again for Columbia. The publication British Dance Bands on Record shows Art playing
tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while ...
but he doubled on alto sax and trumpet. This band had recorded about 50 titles since November 1924, but just one more session took place on February 25, 1926, while Art was with them. The band actually left for the continent in August 1926 and by now consisted of Dave Caplan (
banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and in modern forms is usually made of plastic, where early membranes were made of animal skin. ...
), Les Allen (
clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...
, tenor sax), Ken Kenney (drums), Art Lousley (trumpet), Jack Collins (
trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...
), John Whittaker (bass), Laurie Day (piano) and of course Art Christmas who played mostly alto sax but doubled on tenor sax, clarinet, trombone and trumpet.(This likely started Art thinking of trying to make a name for himself as a multi instrumentalist even as early as the 1920s). Eventually this band became known as "The Toronto Band from Canada, featuring Art Christmas" and from about the first week in September they played at the Faun des Westens in
Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
. During November they also appeared at The Scala Theatre, assisting the dance pair
Annette Mills Annette Mills (born Edith Mabel Mills; 10 September 1894 – 10 January 1955) was an English actress, dancer, songwriter and television presenter, best known for presenting the children's television show ''Muffin the Mule''. Early life Annette ...
and Bobby, who were demonstrating the Charleston dance. While in Berlin, Germany, the band recorded about 56 titles for
Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
/
Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...
. This band had a very strong jazz component thanks mainly to Art Christmas' style. The German discographer Horst Lange compared it to the
California Ramblers The California Ramblers were an American jazz group that recorded hundreds of songs for many different record labels throughout the 1920s. Four members of the band –Red Nichols, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, and Adrian Rollini - went on to front b ...
in his "Jazz in Deutschland: die deutsche Jazz-Chronik", noting that Art Christmas and other members of the band were familiar with all styles and could play with this special 'American feeling' which pure European musicians and bands were lacking. One of this band's few surviving recordings "I'm Sitting On Top Of The World", is a vigorous effort in the "hot dance" genre and according to the book 'The Lost History Of Jazz In Canada by Mark Miller', ".......is distinguished by Art Christmas' alto saxophone solo." Horst Lange's book Discography Of German Dance Music shows the personnel of the band changing considerably, with only Art Christmas, Les Allen, Dave Caplan and Ken Kenney remaining from the band which left Britain. Art worked extensively in Britain and Europe during the late 1920s and led his own band in
Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...
, Berlin and London. He was with the Savoy Orpheans for a brief time and then joined Billy Mason in 1930. Art played and recorded with Percival Mackey and Dave Frost during the latter half of 1931 and was now playing baritone sax as well as the other instruments with these groups.


Art's big break

Art's big break came when he joined the
Roy Fox Roy Fox (October 25, 1901 – March 20, 1982) was an American-born British dance bandleader who was popular in Britain during the British dance band era. Early life and career Roy Fox was born in Denver, Colorado, United States in 1901. He ...
Band in February 1933, staying with this band until 1938. It was while he was with The Roy Fox Band, that Art Christmas became a household name around the music scene in both Britain and Europe. The British music magazine Melody Maker referred to Art as "...the most sought after musician in England" and Art soon became billed as Britain's 'Leading sax and multi-instrumentalist' as he not only played lead alto sax for Roy Fox but was often featured on trumpet, trombone,
xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...
, drums, piano and even a routine with the
bagpipes Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, N ...
and
sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...
.....He didn't just play these other instruments but mastered them nearly to the same degree as he had the alto sax and clarinet. "Art Christmas' alto sax playing is distinguished by a daringly virtuoso style and inventive technique that displays a harmonic and rhythmic sophistication well in advance of his time...................." After Roy Fox was forced to disband due to health problems in 1938, Art worked with Arthur Rosebery from 1938 to 1939, Sid Millward's "Nitwits" and Joe Ferrie in 1939, before joining Jack Jackson (playing with the Jackson band on one recording session in November of that year). From 1940 until late 1946, Art played with his dear friend Jack Payne. The Jack Payne band was just too busy (with
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
shows every week and public performances all over Britain) to do much recording between 1940 and 1944 but there was a session in 1945 that Art played.


For The Fun of It

After Jack Payne turned impresario and launched a new variety show called "For The Fun of It", he asked Art to join up with
Donald Peers Donald Rhys Hubert Peers (10 July 1908 – 9 August 1973) was a Welsh people, Welsh singer of traditional pop. His best remembered rendition and signature song was "In a Shady Nook by a Babbling Brook". Biography Early life Donald Peers was b ...
,
Frankie Howerd Francis Alick Howard (6 March 1917 – 19 April 1992), better known by his stage-name Frankie Howerd, was an English actor and comedian. Early life Howerd was born the son of a soldier Francis Alfred William (1887–1934)England & Wales, Deat ...
and
Max Bygraves Walter William "Max" Bygraves (16 October 1922 – 31 August 2012) was an English comedian, singer, actor and variety performer. He appeared on his own television shows, sometimes performing comedy sketches between songs. He made twenty ''Roya ...
along with many other entertainers. Thus Art's multi instrumentalist stage act began and Art teamed up with his wife Maisie (a dancer and show girl), and "For The Fun of It" opened at the Sheffield Empire in
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
for sixteen weeks, followed by a different major city every week.


Command Performance

After the extensive run of "For The Fun of It", Art did some ice shows and some Pantomimes and also led his own "Foulharmonic Orchestra" for the show "Ignorance Is Bliss". One of Art's fondest memories was the performance of "Cinderella" for
King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...
and Queen Elizabeth at the
Palladium Palladium is a chemical element; it has symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1802 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas (formally 2 Pallas), ...
in London.


Warburton Arms

In 1952, Art was searching for his next adventure and much to the disappointment of his many fans decided to retire from show business and become a publican. He bought "The Warburton Arms" (now known as
London Fields London Fields is a park in Hackney, London, although the name also refers to the immediate area in Hackney surrounding it and London Fields station. It is common land adjoining the Hackney Central area of the London Borough of Hackney. The p ...
) an east end pub in Hackney, London. Art had been away from his mother and father for nearly 30 years and soon after he bought the pub in Hackney, his father died. In 1954, determined not to let his mother die without seeing her again, Art sold the pub and moved back to Canada with his wife Maisie and son Art Jr.


Canada 1954

After returning to Canada, Art performed a great deal around Kingston and
Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
with his own band from 1955 to 1958 when he decided to try his hand at teaching music at the high school level. He moved to
Blind River, Ontario Blind River is a town situated on the North Channel (Ontario), North Channel of Lake Huron in the Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. The town, named after the nearby Blind River (Ontario), Blind River, celebrated its centennial in 2006. History ...
, again with his wife Maisie and his son Art, and taught until his death in 1961 in both Blind River, Ontario and
Elliot Lake Elliot Lake is a city in Algoma District, Ontario, Canada. It is north of Lake Huron, midway between the cities of Greater Sudbury, Sudbury and Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Sault Ste. Marie in the Northern Ontario region. Once dubbed the "uranium ca ...
, Ontario. Although Art was enjoying his new teaching career a great deal, he still had the desire and drive to play. This time he played in and around Elliot Lake, Ontario and for the first time Art Jr. was at his side. The experience of playing with his 15-year-old son was the biggest thrill Art had ever experienced in his entire musical career. This experience was short lived however. Art died a year later.


External links


Art Christmas Biography



References

''This article utilizes text from https://web.archive.org/web/20081225143643/http://www.artchristmas.com/art1.html, archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20130724205623/http://www.artchristmas.com/art1.html, a source released under GFDL and CC-BY-SA.'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas, Art 1905 births 1961 deaths Canadian jazz saxophonists Canadian male saxophonists Musicians from Kingston, Ontario 20th-century Canadian saxophonists 20th-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians