Eddie Condon (16 November 1905 – August 1973), was a jazz guitarist and banjoist. He was a leader in the Chicago school of early Jazz. He also sang and played piano. Condon was born in Goodland (Indiana). After a few years of playing the ukulele, Condon switched to the banjo and became a professional musician in 1921. For most of the 1920s he was based in Chicago and played with jazz greats like Bix Beiderbecke, Frank Teschemacher and others. Condon moved to New York City in 1928. He often arranged jazz sessions, sometimes with artists like Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong. When racially integrated sessions were rare, he organized them with Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller and Henry ‘Red” Allen. For a while, he was a member of the Red Nichols band. He had a long association, starting in 1938, with Milt Gabler’s Commodore Records. He was a frequent at Nick’s jazz club in Manhattan from the 1930s. Condon’s sophisticated Dixieland music was created by Condon and his collaborators at Nick’s. It became known as “Nicksieland”. His regular circle of musical friends included Wild Bill Davison and Bobby Hackett as well as Edmond Hall, Pee Wee Russell, and Edmond Hall. He ran Eddie Condon’s, a New York jazz club from 1945 to 1967. Condon recorded a series of classic albums for Columbia Records in the 1950s. These albums were recorded by Condon with Wild Bill Davison (cornet), Billy Butterfield, Edmond Hall, Peanuts Huckle, Cutty Cutshall and Lou McGarity (trombone), Gene Schroeder (tenor sax), Bud Freeman, Bud Freeman, Gene Schroeder (tenor sax), Gene Schroeder (gene schroeder), Gene Schroeder (trumpet), Cutty Cutshall, Lou McGarity, Cliff Leeman, Buzzy Drootin, Buzzy Rootin, Buzzy Drootin, Buzzy Leeman, BuzzyDrootin, Buzzy Drootin (drums), Buzzy Leeman, Buzzyd, Buzzy Darootin, Buzzy Leeman, Buzzy Leeman, Buzzy Crootin, Buzzy, Buzzy Lrootin, Buzzy Leeman, Buzzy Leeman, Buzzy rootin, Buzzy Leeman, Buzzy Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leemann (drums), Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff, Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leeman, Cliff Leemen His autobiography, We Called It Music, was published in 1948. It contains many entertaining and interesting stories about Condon’s interactions with musicians. Condon’s Treasury of Jazz (1956), was a collection of articles from various writers that Condon and Richard Gehman co-edited. Through 1971, Eddie Condon was a frequent performer at jazz festivals. He was buried in New York City. Text contributed by users is available under Creative Commons By–SA License. It may also be available under GNU FDL.
