The Sackville All Star Christmas Record

A genre fraught with peril is the “Christmas Album”. While there are some that are genuinely loved and have stood the test of time, the field is littered with far too many examples of anodyne versions of songs already too saccharine for their own good. Jazz musicians, however seem to approach the concept of recording an album of Christmas related music with an open mind, since being it being “jazz”, it means you can experiment with the arrangements, and maybe breath some new life into an older number.

Sackville was a Canadian record company and label that specialized in jazz. In March of 1986, they brought together a quartet to record a record of Christmas music, which was released later in the same year. The “Sackville All Star” group was a quartet consisting of Jim Galloway (soprano saxophone), Milt Hinton (bass), Gus Johnson (drums) and Ralph Sutton (piano). Jim Galloway was a leader in Canadian jazz. He was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire Scotland in 1936, and moved to Toronto in 1964. In addition to a prolific recording and performing career, Jim was also a band leader and a co-founder of the Toronto Jazz Festival. 

Side one opens with “Santa Claus Is Coming Town”, one of the best known songs in the canon of Christmas music (and before anybody might look down their nose at this selection, Bill Evans also recorded a version of this tune). The album includes three well known carols (We Three Kings, Good King Wenceslas and Silent Night), a couple of more modern well known seasonal numbers (Winter Wonderland and Let It Snow) and two other Christmas themed songs I hadn’t heard before; “At The Christmas Ball” and “Santa Claus Came In The Spring”. The final song on side two is “Old Time Religion”, which, according to the liner notes, was included because “while not exactly a Christmas song, personifies the spirituality which is so much a part of the season”. All of the songs are performed with verve and character. These were songs that all of the players would have been familiar with, and probably had played over their careers on numerous occasions. In this case, the arrangements are respectful of the nature of the song, but also inventive enough that they breathe some new life into them.  

I found my copy of this record at a used record store for 5 bucks. The original celllophane wrapping was still attached with "6.99" written in red marker across the front. It was definitely worth the original price and 5 bucks for a pristine used copy was a great deal. A nice piece of Canadian recording history, and well worth listening to over the holidays.