|
Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZCONDON, Eddie(Albert Edwin Condon, b 16 Nov. '05, Goodland IN; d 4 Aug. '73, NYC) Rhythm guitar. Good musician in Chicago style; sometime bandleader, then club owner, always indefatigable sparkplug: organizer of gigs, recording sessions, author of famed wisecracks: French critic Hugues Panassi‚ (Le Jazz Hot, '34; The Real Jazz, '42) came to NYC to produce records; Condon said, 'Do I tell him how to jump on a grape?' On bebop: 'We don't flatten our fifths; we drink 'em.' Played banjo in Chicago; began 50 years of association with Bud Freeman, Gene Krupa, Jimmy McPartland, other Chicagoans; many records with them, Louis Armstrong, Red McKenzie, Bobby Hackett, many others; own sessions on Commodore early '40s, Columbia '50s; all-star Condon In Japan '64 on Chiaroscuro. Gigged at Nick's NYC; from '42 promoted concerts at Town Hall: AFRS broadcasts of these concerts '44--5 have been issued on ten two-CD sets by Jazzology, featuring Billy Butterfield, Bobby Hackett, Lee Wiley, James P. Johnson, Pee Wee Russell and many, many more. He had his own club Eddie Condon's '45--67. Autobiography We Called It Music '48 describes the chore of getting Fats Waller out of bed for historic Buddies date of 1 March '29. The '53--7 Columbia tracks compiled on Mosaic '95, with Freeman, Edmond Hall, Pee Wee Russell, Walter Page, Ralph Sutton, Wild Bill Davison, young Bob Wilber, many more. |