Information/Write-up
First posted here in 2011, The Don Carrington Trio were a Toronto-based funk group active in the late 1960s whose lone LP, Makin’ It Happen (Paragon ALS 310, 1969), stands as one of the deepest and most uncompromising funk records ever made in Canada.
Led by Don Carrington on tenor saxophone, with Cookie Edwards on vocals and drums and Ricky Day on vocals and Hammond organ, the trio crafted a raw, heavy groove rooted in soul-jazz but pushed into harder funk territory. The album’s tracklist blends adventurous covers with fierce original arrangements: a drum-and-bass-heavy version of If I Were a Carpenter, a driving funk take on Horace Silver’s Song for My Father, a stretched-out Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, and a fiery MacArthur Park among them.
On Toronto’s live circuit, the trio earned their reputation with a year-long residency at the Francis Room above Fran’s restaurant on Yonge Street, starting in 1968. There they delivered what Nicholas Jennings described as some of the “funkiest sounds north of Memphis,” mixing contemporary hits like Make Me Smile and I Want to Take You Higher with soul standards and jazz favourites. The same fearless approach defined their studio work, captured with gritty immediacy on Makin’ It Happen.
Although the LP failed to make a commercial impact at the time—perhaps too raw for mainstream audiences—it has since been recognized as a landmark in Canadian Black music history, and is frequently cited among the most important Canadian funk recordings. Its rarity has only added to its mystique: original copies are virtually impossible to locate and, when they do surface, often command prices of $500–700 on the collectors’ market.
The Don Carrington Trio left behind only this single recorded statement, but with Makin’ It Happen they carved out a bold and lasting place in Canadian funk and soul heritage.
-Robert Williston
Don Carrington: tenor sax
Cookie Edwards: vocal, drums
Ricky Day: vocal, hammond organ
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