[Dixielandjazz] Re: Eddie Condon

[Don Ingle]

Bill:
   Your mention of Dick Gehman brought back a pleasant memory of the time he
stopped at Chicago's Jazz Ltd. Club where I was working in the 60's house
band.
   Dick used to make a stop here time to time when passing through town on
the way to some writing assignment, and he always had an Eddie Condon story.
This time he told one that I have never forgotten.
   He had been at Eddie's Club in NY in the 50's and Eddie invited him to
stay over at his place in White Plains, which was a drive on out of
Manhattan. So after the gig, Gehman drove and Eddie sat in the passenger
side, and was very quiet as they rode on out of town. On the way they passed
some incinerator sites, some large industrial dumps and a large cattle yard,
all with their hot-of-summer smells wafting in through the window as they
passed them. The stench, he said, was gagging.
  "Suddenly," Dick said, "Eddie spoke up...breaking the silence. With a
deadpan delivery he said, 'you know, Phyllis and I have been thinking of
buying around here.'"
   I still have a few of Gehman's books somewhere in my collection. He was a
fine writer and a good friend of Chicago/New York style jazz.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Haesler" <bhaesler at nsw.bigpond.net.au>
To: "Jim Denham" <james at jiming.demon.co.uk>
Cc: "dixieland jazz mail list" <dixielandjazz at ml.islandnet.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 5:07 AM
Subject: [Dixielandjazz] Re: Eddie Condon


> Dear Jim,
> I have that Bud Freeman album,"Chicago/Austin High School Jazz In Hi-Fi:
Bud
> Freeman", on German RCA/BMG CD together with the original notes by Richard
> Gehman (some of which you quote).
> Great memory to even recall them!
> The session dates were 7 March, 3 April and 8 July 1957 and Condon is not
on any
> of these Summa Cum Laude sides.
> Odd indeed, given his association with the original band.
> I then checked Robert Hilbert's 1993 book 'Pee Wee Russell. The Life of a
> Jazzman'.
> Nothing about a Condon injury, but he does mention (referring to late Jan
1957)
> a Pee Wee gig at "Condon's Greenwich Village hangout" and the fact that
"the
> glib guitarist was absent having taken his regular house band on a tour of
> England".
> Condon's next appearance on record was at a Bud Freeman-George Wettling
session
> on 22 April 1957.
> At least we are narrowing it down.
> Perhaps a look at the English Jazz Journals from this period may reveal
> something.
> Mine are on permanent loan to a friend, as I have run out of storage
space. I
> will check with him tomorrow.
> Kind regards,
> Bill.
>
>
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