[Dixielandjazz] Re: Eddie Condon's Allstars on CBS - Mosaic Reissue

[Stephen Barbone]

> "gerald nichols" <geraldnichols at bellsouth.net> wrote (polite snip)
> The talk about this set has brought me out of "lurkdom".  I have an LP
> (vinyl) on CBS ("For Promotion Only-CJ 45145) of the 1957 session. I has
> previously issued as well as several previously unissued cuts.
>
> What a remarkable session.  I play it over and over and many of my
> collection sit there without being played ever again.  That music "had"
> something!
>
> What surprises me is that I never "caught " the "sqeaks" etc. from Bob
> Wilber.  Guess I was enjoying the music too much to notice.

As Jack Maheu was quoted in Sudhalter's "Lost Chords", "you should have heard
it live." Those living in NYC at the time, or visiting, were treated to that
exciting music plus a lot more, as often as they wanted to visit Condon's
joint. You just cannot put that kind of music into words, or even on records.
It was the most visceral, exciting jazz I've ever seen/heard.

And why wouldn't it be in the mid 1950s, with Wild Bill, Hackett, Butterfield,
McGarity, Cutshall, Dickenson, Schroeder, Cary, Mortillaro, Hucko, Hall,
Wilber, Wettling, Drootin, Condon, Gaskin, Lesberg and a whole bunch of others?

For many, this was Dixieland at it's peak, though as Bill Haesler pointed out,
in 1957, Bob Wilber considered it a musical step backwards for him inferring
that the "creativity" of Dixieland Jazz was past it's peak.

Cheers,
Steve (squeaks? what squeaks) Barbone