Art Christmas
Art Christmas (born December 22, 1905 in Kingston (Ontario) , † September 24, 1961 in Blind River , Ontario ) was a Canadian bandleader, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist of dance music and jazz.
Life
He began to work professionally as a musician at the age of 19 and played trumpet in the Dumbells Orchestra in the USA, with which he also came to England. There he played in 1926 in the Canadian Club Orchestra , one of Paul Specht's bands (both trumpet and saxophone), and in the house band of New Prince's Restaurant in Piccadilly, which he took over. In 1926 he recorded with them for Columbia Records. He himself played tenor and alto saxophone, but also clarinet, trumpet and trombone. He was also in Berlin with her, where he accompanied the new Charleston dance, was known as the Hot Band and recorded for Deutsche Grammophon (as The Toronto Band from Canada ). At the end of the 1920s he continued to lead his own bands in Budapest, Berlin and London. His breakthrough, especially in Great Britain but also in the rest of Europe, came in the band of Roy Fox , in which he was from 1933 to 1938 and mainly played the alto saxophone. He became a role model for many British musicians and taught in jazz clinics. He also expanded his reputation as a multi-instrumentalist (with, in addition to the instruments mentioned, drums, piano, xylophone, sousaphone, bagpipes, etc.).
In 1938 Fox had to give up his band for health reasons and Christmas played with Arthur Rosebery (1938/39), the Nitwits of Sid Millward and in 1939 with Joe Ferrie and Jack Jackson . From 1940 to 1946 he was in his friend Jack Payne's band , which was very popular in Great Britain and featured frequently on the BBC . He also toured with Payne's Variety Show For the Fun of It , showing off his talents as a multi-instrumentalist. Also there was his wife Maisie, a dancer who accompanied him on the piano. With her he had a son: Art junior. He played in a few other shows and in the production of Cinderella he also appeared in front of the British King at the Palladium.
In 1952 he withdrew from the music scene and opened a pub in the East End ( The Warburton Arms in Hackney). After his father died in Canada, he moved back to his home country in 1954. He played with his own bands from 1955 to 1958 in the Kingston area and then moved to Blind River, where he worked as a music teacher, but also played in his own band with his son in Elliot Lake (Ontario) .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Christmas, Art |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian band leader and multi-instrumentalist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 22, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Kingston, Ontario |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 24, 1961 |
| Place of death | Blind River, Ontario |