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Eddie Condon


montg

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The centennary of his birth is Nov 16 this year. Condon and the chicago/dixieland style seems to have mostly fallen out of favor--I don't expect to see any Lincoln Center tributes or cover stories in Jazz Times. Which is too bad because it's fun music.

Condon is right after Coltrane on my music shelf, and they both have their place. Here's to Eddie and his four-stringed rhythm guitar :tup

condonsrecordsig.jpg

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Funny how many years ago I thought Condon's music was corny as I was a "modern jazz fan".

Over time I began to appreciate his music and now have a very large collection of Condon's recordings. His various groups were filled with many many fine jazz players such as Pee Wee Russell, Wild Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett, and numerous others. I eventually purchased the entire series of Condon's broadcasts released on the Jazzology label and love his Mosaic set.

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  • 2 years later...

Ha, took me a while to get over thinking all that dixieland and trad stuff was corny, too... now I'm slowly catching up with Condon.

Had the opportunity to pick up his first four Chronological Classics for an ok prize and now I'm starting to sort things out, as I have much of that on cheapo sets (Quadromania 4CD boxes) by Bobby Hackett and Pee Wee Russell (and some also on the set by Wild Bill Davison).

Now what I still miss are Classics 1947-50 and 1951-53.

I see AMG lists a 2008 release, Classics 1954-55, but neither Abeille Musique nor Amazon.fr are listing that one. Has it already been released or is that an AMG goof? I doubt that, as they do indeed have a cover picture.

Lon already tipped me off on the Town Hall Concert series. I'll have to look into those as well some day. Here's a previous thread dedicated to them:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=7847

The fact that there's quite some Lee Wiley on those might help me deciding to buy some, eventually ;) (in fact, Wiley is likely a major factor in me starting to dig these trad guys... got the Condon mob, but missed the Condon Mosaic - which leads to the next question:)

What about those Collectables twofers: Jam Session Coast to Coast/Jammin' at Condon's, Bixieland/Treasure of Jazz, Midnight in Moscow, do they cover all of what's been on the Condon Mosaic? (previous thread about that one having gone OOP, but no discography there)

And where would/does the overlap start between those Collectables and Classics?

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The Condon Mosaic combines all the CBS Condon All Stars recordings from 1953 to 1962 on five cd's. So the Collectables cover just a part of the Moasaic set. All of the sessions coverd by Collectables are on the Moasic set, with the exception of half of "Jam Session Coast To Coast" (because only half of this album is by Condon). As for the missing sessions, I cannot give exact details, because I do not have the discography at hand.

As for the Town Hall Concerts, go for them, they are great. With the exception of the very first concert, the sound is decent, and there is superb playing by the likes of Bobby Hackett, Billy Butterfield, Muggsy Spanier, Max Kaminsky, Jonah Jones, Hot Lips Page, Miff Mole, Jack Teagarden, Benny Morton, Sidney Bechet, Pee Wee Russell, Edmond Hall, Joe Marsala, Ernie Caceres, Gene Schroeder, Willie 'The Lion' Smith, James P. Johnson, Jess Stacy, Bob Haggart, Johnny Williams, George Wettling, Gene Krupa.

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Thanks Lon - I'll be patient then and wait until it turns up eventually!

Tommy, thanks a lot for another strong endorsement of the Town Hall sets. It's just the sheer amount of music (and the $$ needed to buy the whole series) that makes me a bit hesitant.

Another question: there are two Neatworks discs with alternates, in addition to the Chrono Classics. Are those worth getting as well?

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Tommy, thanks a lot for another strong endorsement of the Town Hall sets. It's just the sheer amount of music (and the $$ needed to buy the whole series) that makes me a bit hesitant.

There is no need to buy them all at once... I have five volumes so far (but planning to get the remaining sets too).

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  • 1 month later...

Played all the Condon Chronological Classics (minus the most recent one covering the mid 50s) which I bought recently. Great music! Not claiming this is earth-shaking stuff or anything (though those few early sides with that reeds guy, what's his name again, Teschemacher? Those might have been rather new in their day...), yet the 1938 Commodore sessions are terrific, and Pee Wee Russell has countless fascinating solos! The presence of people like Wild Bill Davison, Edmond Hall, Jess Stacy, Fats Waller, Joe Sullivan and others helps a lot of course, and George Wettling must have been one of the best suited drummers for this kind of music! Though what about the trombones? I've read somewhere (the Mosaic liners?) about the way the various trumpet/clarinet combinations (Kaminsky, Davison... and Russell, Hall, Wilber...) changed the character of the music, but rarely you read anything about the trombone players. Of course now and then there's Big T doing service, but his replacements on most of the sessions (George Brunies must be the one appearing most often) do a fine job as well. Also it seems the pianists have quite some influence on how these sessions sound, overall. Stacy always shines, Sullivan brings a bit more edge to the proceedings, Waller of course is great on that one date...

Now I need a bit of a break from dixieland (he he... started playing the Berigan Chronos instead last night... only knew the Mosaic with the early material so far, now digging into his RCA output for the first time!), and then I'll play the Condon Mosaic, which I was able to acquire from someone on the board, and in prime shape, too!

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Not to forget: Lou McGarity and Cutty Cutshall (tb), Peanuts Hucko (cl) and of course Gene Schroeder, who became the pianist used on most sessions (though to be honest, I prefer Stacy quite some...)

McGarrity and Cutshall. Two great musicians. Cutty Cutshall is an unsung giant in my book. Great solos and just listen to his ensemble work. He's there at the right time with the right notes. EVERY time. McGarity is no slouch either and was probably the better known of the two. At one point in the early 40s they were Benny Goodman's trombone section. I think there is a Bird record where they are part of the section also (Temptation?). They were together in The Lawson Haggart Jazz Band and it's successor World's Greatest Jazz Band.

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Flurin, also JSP issued a 4 CDs set with the classic sessions 1928 to 1949.

e80391ccfkw.jpg

Hm, I didn't know, but frankly the Chronos sound alright (Lon said they did, I trusted him once more, and that wasn't a wrong decision), and I could get them all new for a good prize at a used CD store. I bet the JSP would have been nice as well!

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  • 14 years later...

I wonder how many "Bixieland" LP covers there were. 😁

Condon LPs are not always that easy to pind down because a lot of his recordings (particularly from the pre-vinyl era as well as live recordings) have been repackaged so often that you have a hard time keeping track of which is which.

I have almost never sought out Eddie Condon recordings actively - they rather just "came my way". But some which seem to go under their original (or "period") names througout their reissues that I consider fairly safe bets (in addition to "Bixieland") are:

- Jam Sessions at Commodore (and in fact all of his Commodore recordings)
- Town Hall Concerts (from the mid-40s, but they are hard to keep a straight overview of)
- Ringside at Condon's
- Coast-to-Coast Jam Session
- Jammin' At Condon's
 

And IMO there are recordings released under the leader names of various Condonites but with the same nucleus (including Condon) in the line-up that are just as worth listening in (e.g. George Brunis, Wild Bill Davison, George Wettling a.o.).

But I'm just an "occasional Condon listener" and no completist at all so may well be unaware of all sorts of gems (e.g. many of his pre-Commodore recordings).

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Thanks both. Some good looking records to explore!

40 minutes ago, Big Beat Steve said:

And IMO there are recordings released under the leader names of various Condonites but with the same nucleus (including Condon) in the line-up that are just as worth listening in (e.g. George Brunis, Wild Bill Davison, George Wettling a.o.).

Any recommendations falling within this category would also be much appreciated.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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