Eddie Condon - The Chronological Classics: 1951-1953 '2004

Tracks list

Tracklist

01. Dippermouth Blues (3:19)
02. Keepin Out of Mischief Now (2:24)
03. Squeeze Me (4:22)
04. Memphis Blues (3:34)
05. Beale Street Blues (4:10)
06. Mandy Make Up Your Mind (4:25)
07. Just the Blues (3:14)
08. Riverboat Shuffle (2:08)
09. Medley: Makin Whoopee/You Made Me Love You/I Cant Give You Anything But Love
(4:36)
10. Sweet Georgia Brown (4:10)
11. The One I Love Belongs to Somebody Else (3:28)
12. Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me (3:18)
13. Original Dixieland One Step (4:18)
14. Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams (5:11)
15. Beale Street Blues (4:14)
16. Riverboat Shuffle (4:27)
17. Medley: Emaline/Dont Worry Bout Me/I Cant Give You Anything But Love (4:51)
18. Jam Session Blues/Ole Miss (10:12)

Oh, yeah! Ringside At Condons! Here come those wonderful long-playing 10 Savoy
albums recorded live during the early 1950s at Eddie Condons nightclub in New
York. Each track begins with cheering, applauding and lots of whistling from the
uninhibited audience. The music is excellent, with Wild Bill Davison and Edmond
Hall out in front playing as hard as they can. The rhythm section is
strengthened by pianist Gene Schroeders interaction with Bob Casey, a forceful
bassist whose prodigiously powerful, Pops Foster-like plucking propels the band
often even more strongly than Buzzy Drootins drumming. Casey gets more room for
soloing than most traditional jazz bassists were normally granted. Riverboat
Shuffle fades abruptly during Cutty Cutshalls solo, but he returns immediately
for a gorgeous stroll through Makin Whoopee. This is the beginning of a medley:
Edmond creates a lovely version of You Made Me Love You and Wild Bill gently
eases into I Cant Give You Anything but Love, which gradually builds to a smoky
climax. The rest of these Savoy recordings are consistently wonderful,
particularly those easygoing numbers The One I Love and Wrap Your Troubles in
Dreams. In November of 1953, Condons band was heard Coast to Coast on a national
radio broadcast. Lucky for us, Columbia made an air check and brought out a
long-playing record for posterity. The band is larger; Walter Page plays some of
the best bass he ever put on record, and the closing blues jam clocks in at ten
minutes, more than thrice as long as usual. Two of the performances allow us to
eavesdrop on Condon, sounding more than ever like James Cagney, as he gives last
minute instructions to the band: Hold it, George! When we get through the
preliminary action for piano, well skip into the clarinets. You take that
ending, and back to the top. Dont forget: after the tramboon, you got two
bars... Condon sings and strums the guitar, the engineer announces serial
five-oh-three-dash-seven, take five. Condon mutters Wrong number, call back
later! Here we go, ready? And they steam up Riverboat Shuffle as nice as can be.
A bit further on, Walter Page moves a horse hair bow over the strings of his
bass with resounding force throughout an exquisite medley of ballads. Eddie is
heard issuing further instructions before leading the band into a final Jam
Session Blues/Ole Miss. As he nervously spouts last minute advice, Condon comes
out with one of his all-time best rhetorical directives: Lets try to make this
as respectable as possible...we might have a chance!

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