The 'Bixieland' album was made to pay homage to and catch the spirit of legendary cornetist Bix Beiderbecke. In the words of Condon himself, without wishing to brag, he felt 'these records came off better than the original Bixes'.
The reason being the superior musicianship Condon was able to employ including such legends as Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison and George Wettling. 'Dixiecats' featuring the Dixieland All Stars showcases the Dixieland style that took its origins from the New Orleans idiom. Dixieland music had for a while been considered a white man's music imitating the black New Orleans style.
Here we have a predominantly black band featuring such legends as Henry Allen, Willie 'The Lion ' Smith, and drummer Zutty Singleton who had been born in New Orleans in 1898 and played with Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton!
The reason being the superior musicianship Condon was able to employ including such legends as Bobby Hackett, Wild Bill Davison and George Wettling. 'Dixiecats' featuring the Dixieland All Stars showcases the Dixieland style that took its origins from the New Orleans idiom. Dixieland music had for a while been considered a white man's music imitating the black New Orleans style.
Here we have a predominantly black band featuring such legends as Henry Allen, Willie 'The Lion ' Smith, and drummer Zutty Singleton who had been born in New Orleans in 1898 and played with Louis Armstrong and Jelly Roll Morton!
Albert Edwin Condon (November 16, 1905 – August 4, 1973), better known as Eddie Condon, was a jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader. A leading figure in the so-called "Chicago school" of early Dixieland, he also played piano and sang on occasion.
Condon was born in Goodland, Indiana, the son of John and Margaret (née McGraw) Condon. He grew up in Momence, Illinois 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 labels, sometimes playing with the artists he brought to the recording studios, 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, first located on West 52nd Street near Sixth Avenue, on the present site of the CBS headquarters building, then later, on the south side of East 56th Street, east of Second Avenue. It was of course called 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 Cary, Ralph Sutton (piano), Bob Casey, Walter Page, Jack Lesberg, Al Hall (bass), George Wettling, Buzzy Drootin, Cliff Leeman (drums)
Personnel:
Dick Cary (piano)
Eddie Condon (guitar)
Cutty Cutshall (trombone)
Wild Bill Davison (cornet
Bobby Hackett (as 'Pete Pesci') (clarinet)
Edmond Hall (clarinet)
Walter Page (bass)
Gene Schroeder (piano)
George Wettling (drums)
Tracklist:
01. At The Jazz Band Ball (LaRocca/Shields) 4.46
02. Ol' Man River (Hammerstein II/Kern) 3.31
03. I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure (Pinkard) 2.50
04. Singin' The Blues (Robinson/Conrad) 4.20
05. Fidgety Feet (LaRocca/Shields) 5.11
06. From Monday On (Barris/Crosby) 4.10
07. I'm Coming, Virginia (Heywod/Cook) 2.56
08. Royal Garden Blues (Williams) 3.11
09. Louisiana (Johnson/Schafer/Razaf) 3.11
10. Jazz Me Blues (Delaney) 3.43
01. At The Jazz Band Ball (LaRocca/Shields) 4.46
02. Ol' Man River (Hammerstein II/Kern) 3.31
03. I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure (Pinkard) 2.50
04. Singin' The Blues (Robinson/Conrad) 4.20
05. Fidgety Feet (LaRocca/Shields) 5.11
06. From Monday On (Barris/Crosby) 4.10
07. I'm Coming, Virginia (Heywod/Cook) 2.56
08. Royal Garden Blues (Williams) 3.11
09. Louisiana (Johnson/Schafer/Razaf) 3.11
10. Jazz Me Blues (Delaney) 3.43
ARMU 2202 (shareplace)