Eddie Condon
Encyclopedia
Albert Edwin Condon better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz
banjo
ist, guitar
ist, and bandleader
. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland
, he also played piano
and sang on occasion.
, the son of John and Margaret (nee McGraw) Condon. He grew up in Momence, Illinos and Chicago Heights, Illinois
, where he attended St. Agnes and Bloom High School. After some time playing ukulele
, he switched to banjo and was a professional musician
by 1921. He was based in Chicago
for most of the 1920s, and played with such jazz notables as Bix Beiderbecke
, Jack Teagarden
and Frank Teschemacher
.
In 1928 Condon moved to New York City
. He frequently arranged jazz sessions for various record label
s, sometimes playing with the artists he brought to the recording studio
s, including Louis Armstrong
and Fats Waller
. He organised racially-integrated recording sessions - when these were still rare - with Waller, Armstrong and Henry 'Red' Allen
. He played with the band of Red Nichols
for a time. Later, from 1938 he had a long association with Milt Gabler
's Commodore Records
.
From the late 1930s on he was a regular at the Manhattan
jazz club Nick's. The sophisticated variation on Dixieland
music which Condon and his colleagues created there came to be nicknamed "Nicksieland." By this time, his regular circle of musical associates included Wild Bill Davison
, Bobby Hackett
, George Brunies
, Edmond Hall
and Pee Wee Russell
. In 1939, he appeared with "Bobby Hacket and Band" in the Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film musical short-subject, "On the Air".
Condon also did a series of jazz radio
broadcasts from New York's Town Hall
during 1944-45 which were nationally popular. These recordings survive, and have been issued on the Jazzology label.
From 1945 through 1967 he ran his own New York jazz club, Eddie Condon's. In the 1950s Condon recorded a sequence of classic albums for Columbia Records
. The musicians involved in these albums - and at Condon's club - included Wild Bill Davison
, Bobby Hackett
(cornet), Billy Butterfield
(trumpet), Edmond Hall, Peanuts Hucko
, Pee Wee Russell
, Bob Wilber
(clarinet), Cutty Cutshall
, Lou McGarity
, George Brunies
(trombone), Bud Freeman
(tenor sax), Gene Schroeder, Dick Carey, Ralph Sutton
(piano), Bob Casey, Walter Page
, Jack Lesberg
, Al Hall (bass), George Wettling
, Buzzy Drootin
, Cliff Leeman
(drums).
Condon toured Britain in 1957 with a band including Wild Bill Davison, Cutty Cutshall, Gene Schroeder and George Wettling. His last tour was in 1964, when he took a band to Australia and Japan. Condon's men, on that tour, were a roll-call of top mainstream jazz musicians: Buck Clayton
(trumpet), Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Vic Dickenson
(trombone), Bud Freeman
(tenor sax), Dick Carey (piano and alto horn), Jack Lesberg (bass), Cliff Leeman (drums), Jimmy Rushing
(vocals). A nice touch was that Billy Banks
, a vocalist who had recorded with Condon and Pee Wee Russell in 1932, and had lived in obscurity in Japan for many years, turned up at one of the 1964 concerts: Pee Wee asked him "have you got any more gigs?".
In 1948 his autobiography
We Called It Music was published. The book has many interesting and entertaining anecdotes about musicians Condon worked with. Eddie Condon's Treasury of Jazz (1956) was a collection of articles by various writers co-edited by Condon and Richard Gehman.
A latter-day collaborator, clarinetist Kenny Davern
, described a Condon gig: "It was always a thrill to get a call from Eddie and with a gig involved even more so. I remember eating beforehand with Bernie (Previn; trumpet) and Lou (McGarity; trombone) and everyone being in good spirits. There was a buzz on, we'd all had a taste and there was a great feel to the music."
Eddie Condon toured and appeared at jazz festivals through 1971. He died in New York City
.
He is survived by his daughter Maggie Condon and his only grandchild Michael Repplier, who both live in Greenwich Village
in New York City
. It has been falsely reported that he has another grandson, Zach Condon, lead singer and instrumentalist of the band Beirut
, but this is incorrect.
References to Condon are common in the BBC Radio 4
parody series Down the Line.
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
ist, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist, and bandleader
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
, he also played piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
and sang on occasion.
Biography
Condon was born in Goodland, IndianaGoodland, Indiana
Goodland is a town in Grant Township, Newton County, Indiana, United States. The population was 1,043 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Goodland is located at ....
, the son of John and Margaret (nee McGraw) Condon. He grew up in Momence, Illinos and Chicago Heights, Illinois
Chicago Heights, Illinois
Chicago Heights is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population was 31,373 at the 2005 census. Chicago Heights is nicknamed 'Crossroads of the Nation'.-History:...
, where he attended St. Agnes and Bloom High School. After some time playing ukulele
Ukulele
The ukulele, ; from ; it is a subset of the guitar family of instruments, generally with four nylon or gut strings or four courses of strings....
, he switched to banjo and was a professional musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
by 1921. He was based in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
for most of the 1920s, and played with such jazz notables as Bix Beiderbecke
Bix Beiderbecke
Leon Bismark "Bix" Beiderbecke was an American jazz cornetist, jazz pianist, and composer.With Louis Armstrong, Beiderbecke was one of the most influential jazz soloists of the 1920s...
, Jack Teagarden
Jack Teagarden
Weldon Leo "Jack" Teagarden , known as "Big T" and "The Swingin' Gate", was an influential jazz trombonist, bandleader, composer, and vocalist, regarded as the "Father of Jazz Trombone".-Early life:...
and Frank Teschemacher
Frank Teschemacher
Frank Teschemacher was an American jazz clarinetist and alto-saxophonist, associated with the "Austin High" gang...
.
In 1928 Condon moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. He frequently arranged jazz sessions for various record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
s, sometimes playing with the artists he brought to the recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
s, including Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....
and Fats Waller
Fats Waller
Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
. He organised racially-integrated recording sessions - when these were still rare - with Waller, Armstrong and Henry 'Red' Allen
Red Allen
Henry James "Red" Allen was a jazz trumpeter and vocalist whose style has been claimed to be the first to fully incorporate the innovations of Louis Armstrong.-Life and career:...
. He played with the band of Red Nichols
Red Nichols
Ernest Loring "Red" Nichols was an American jazz cornettist, composer, and jazz bandleader.Over his long career, Nichols recorded in a wide variety of musical styles, and critic Steve Leggett describes him as "an expert cornet player, a solid improviser, and apparently a workaholic, since he is...
for a time. Later, from 1938 he had a long association with Milt Gabler
Milt Gabler
Milton Gabler was an American record producer, responsible for many innovations in the recording industry of the 20th century.-Early life:...
's Commodore Records
Commodore Records
Commodore Records was a United States-based independent record label known for issuing many well regarded recordings of jazz and swing music....
.
From the late 1930s on he was a regular at the Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
jazz club Nick's. The sophisticated variation on Dixieland
Dixieland
Dixieland music, sometimes referred to as Hot jazz, Early Jazz or New Orleans jazz, is a style of jazz music which developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century, and was spread to Chicago and New York City by New Orleans bands in the 1910s.Well-known jazz standard songs from the...
music which Condon and his colleagues created there came to be nicknamed "Nicksieland." By this time, his regular circle of musical associates included Wild Bill Davison
Wild Bill Davison
Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...
, Bobby Hackett
Bobby Hackett
Robert Leo "Bobby" Hackett was an US jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late thirties and early forties.-Biography:...
, George Brunies
George Brunies
George Brunies, aka Georg Brunis, was a jazz trombonist who came to fame in the 1930s, and was part of the Dixieland revival. He was known as the "King of the Tailgate Trombone"....
, Edmond Hall
Edmond Hall
Edmond Hall was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. His father Edward Blainey Hall and mother Caroline Duhe had eight children, Priscilla , Moretta , Viola , Robert , Edmond , Clarence , Edward and Herbert .-Early life:Born in Reserve, Louisiana, about...
and Pee Wee Russell
Pee Wee Russell
Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet....
. In 1939, he appeared with "Bobby Hacket and Band" in the Warner Brothers & Vitaphone film musical short-subject, "On the Air".
Condon also did a series of jazz radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
broadcasts from New York's Town Hall
The Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
during 1944-45 which were nationally popular. These recordings survive, and have been issued on the Jazzology label.
From 1945 through 1967 he ran his own New York jazz club, Eddie Condon's. In the 1950s Condon recorded a sequence of classic albums for Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
. The musicians involved in these albums - and at Condon's club - included Wild Bill Davison
Wild Bill Davison
Wild' Bill Davison was a fiery jazz cornet player who emerged in the 1920s, but did not achieve recognition until the 1940s...
, Bobby Hackett
Bobby Hackett
Robert Leo "Bobby" Hackett was an US jazz musician who played trumpet, cornet and guitar with the bands of Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman in the late thirties and early forties.-Biography:...
(cornet), Billy Butterfield
Billy Butterfield
Billy Butterfield was a band leader, jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist and cornetist.He studied cornet with Frank Simons, but later switched to studying medicine. He did not give up on music and quit medicine after finding success as a trumpeter. Early in his career he played in the band of Austin Wylie...
(trumpet), Edmond Hall, Peanuts Hucko
Peanuts Hucko
Michael Andrew "Peanuts" Hucko was an American big band musician. His primary instrument was the clarinet.-Early life and education:...
, Pee Wee Russell
Pee Wee Russell
Charles Ellsworth Russell, much better known by his nickname Pee Wee Russell, was a jazz musician. Early in his career he played clarinet and saxophones, but eventually focused solely on clarinet....
, Bob Wilber
Bob Wilber
Bob Wilber is an internationally recognized American jazz clarinetist, saxophonist and band leader living in Chipping Campden, England. Although his scope covers a wide range of jazz, Wilber has been a dedicated advocate of classic styles, working throughout his career to present traditional jazz...
(clarinet), Cutty Cutshall
Cutty Cutshall
Robert Dewees "Cutty" Cutshall was an American jazz trombonist.Cutshall played in Pittsburgh early in his career, making his first major tour in 1934 with Charley Dornberger. He joined Jan Savitt's orchestra in 1938, then played with Benny Goodman in the early 1940s...
, Lou McGarity
Lou McGarity
Lou McGarity was an American jazz trombonist, violinist and vocalist born in Athens, GA, perhaps most noteworthy for his works with Benny Goodman throughout the 1940s. During this period and throughout his career McGarity also collaborated often with Eddie Condon...
, George Brunies
George Brunies
George Brunies, aka Georg Brunis, was a jazz trombonist who came to fame in the 1930s, and was part of the Dixieland revival. He was known as the "King of the Tailgate Trombone"....
(trombone), Bud Freeman
Bud Freeman
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He had a smooth and full tenor sax style with a heavy robust swing. He was one of the most influential and important jazz tenor saxophonists of...
(tenor sax), Gene Schroeder, Dick Carey, Ralph Sutton
Ralph Sutton
Ralph Earl Sutton was an American jazz pianist born in Hamburg, Missouri. He was a stride pianist in the tradition of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller....
(piano), Bob Casey, Walter Page
Walter Page
Walter Sylvester Page , nicknamed "Hoss," was an African American jazz bassist and leader of the Oklahoma City Blue Devils jazz orchestra from 1925–1931...
, Jack Lesberg
Jack Lesberg
Jack Lesberg was a jazz double-bassist.He performed with many famous jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan, and Benny Goodman....
, Al Hall (bass), George Wettling
George Wettling
George Wettling was an American jazz drummer.He was one of the young white Chicagoans who fell in love with jazz as a result of hearing King Oliver's band at the Lincoln Gardens in Chicago in the early 1920s...
, Buzzy Drootin
Buzzy Drootin
Benjamin "Buzzy" Drootin was a legendary jazz drummer. He played with some of the greatest leading jazz musicians for over sixty years....
, Cliff Leeman
Cliff Leeman
Cliff Leeman was an American jazz drummer.Leeman played percussion with the Portland Symphony at age 13, and toured as a xylophonist on the vaudeville circuit late in the 1920s...
(drums).
Condon toured Britain in 1957 with a band including Wild Bill Davison, Cutty Cutshall, Gene Schroeder and George Wettling. His last tour was in 1964, when he took a band to Australia and Japan. Condon's men, on that tour, were a roll-call of top mainstream jazz musicians: Buck Clayton
Buck Clayton
Buck Clayton was an American jazz trumpet player who was a leading member of Count Basie’s "Old Testament" orchestra and a leader of mainstream-oriented jam session recordings in the 1950s. His principal influence was Louis Armstrong...
(trumpet), Pee Wee Russell (clarinet), Vic Dickenson
Vic Dickenson
Vic Dickenson was an African-American jazz trombonist. Dickenson's career started out in the 1920s and led him through musical partnerships with such legends as Count Basie , Sidney Bechet and Earl Hines...
(trombone), Bud Freeman
Bud Freeman
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He had a smooth and full tenor sax style with a heavy robust swing. He was one of the most influential and important jazz tenor saxophonists of...
(tenor sax), Dick Carey (piano and alto horn), Jack Lesberg (bass), Cliff Leeman (drums), Jimmy Rushing
Jimmy Rushing
James Andrew Rushing , known as Jimmy Rushing, was an American blues shouter and swing jazz singer from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, best known as the featured vocalist of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1935 to 1948.Rushing was known as "Mr...
(vocals). A nice touch was that Billy Banks
Billy Banks
Banks recorded in 1932 with an all-star, multi-racial jazz lineup made up of Red Allen on trumpet, Pee Wee Russell on clarinet, Tommy Dorsey on trombone, Joe Sullivan on piano, Zutty Singleton on drums, and Fats Waller, also on piano; most of the black musicians were from Luis Russell's retinue,...
, a vocalist who had recorded with Condon and Pee Wee Russell in 1932, and had lived in obscurity in Japan for many years, turned up at one of the 1964 concerts: Pee Wee asked him "have you got any more gigs?".
In 1948 his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
We Called It Music was published. The book has many interesting and entertaining anecdotes about musicians Condon worked with. Eddie Condon's Treasury of Jazz (1956) was a collection of articles by various writers co-edited by Condon and Richard Gehman.
A latter-day collaborator, clarinetist Kenny Davern
Kenny Davern
Kenny Davern , born John Kenneth Davern, was one of the premier jazz clarinetists of his generation.-Biography:He was born in Huntington, Long Island to a family of mixed Jewish and Irish-Catholic ancestry...
, described a Condon gig: "It was always a thrill to get a call from Eddie and with a gig involved even more so. I remember eating beforehand with Bernie (Previn; trumpet) and Lou (McGarity; trombone) and everyone being in good spirits. There was a buzz on, we'd all had a taste and there was a great feel to the music."
Eddie Condon toured and appeared at jazz festivals through 1971. He died in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
.
He is survived by his daughter Maggie Condon and his only grandchild Michael Repplier, who both live in Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village
Greenwich Village, , , , .in New York often simply called "the Village", is a largely residential neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City. A large majority of the district is home to upper middle class families...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. It has been falsely reported that he has another grandson, Zach Condon, lead singer and instrumentalist of the band Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, but this is incorrect.
References to Condon are common in the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
parody series Down the Line.
With Kenny Davern
| Released | Album | Notes | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2001-05-01 | A Night with Eddie Condon A Night with Eddie Condon is a 2001 album by clarinetist Kenny Davern originally recorded live in 1971, joined of course by guitarist Eddie Condon... " |
Arbors Records Arbors Records Arbors Records is an independent American jazz record label based in Clearwater, Florida. It was founded by the family team of Mat and Rachel Domber in 1989, initially devoted to the recordings of their friend Rick Fay.-History:... |