[Dixielandjazz] Let's Get This Dixieland Business Straight - Condon

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Jun 25, 2009, at 7:12 PM, Marek Boym wrote:

> On 25/06/2009, Stephen G Barbone <barbonestreet at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> With thanks to list mate John McClernan who forwarded the article  
>> to me.
>>
>> Excerpted from a Bill Gottlieb  Down Beat interview with Eddie  
>> Condon,
>> October 7, 1946. Eddie is quoted as saying:
>>
>> "And lets get this Dixieland business straight", . . . "I've never  
>> had a
>> Dixieland band, or a Chicago band, or a New Orleans band, or any  
>> other style
>> band. All I'm aware of is, good jazz and bad jazz. Good jazz is  
>> improvised
>> music, with each man playing his own particular way, maintaining,  
>> of course,
>> a certain amount of cooperation with the others. That's what we've  
>> always
>> played. I never dictate any style or say anything to my guys except  
>> to name
>> a tune and state the key. They have no restrictions other than to be
>> themselves. They not only play the way they like, they can wear red
>> suspenders, drink on the stand and show up in paper hats, I don't  
>> make them
>> wear uniforms."
>
> That's how he could use players like Buck Clayton, who is on some of
> the best Condon recordings.

Maybe, maybe not. Condon in the article quote was probably just trying  
to get press coverage in a "modern Jazz" magazine. Its full context  
was an answer to Dave Tough's assertion that Condon's music was sort  
of old fashioned. Yet Tough was the drummer in many a Condon group.  
Perhaps Condon highlighted the issue to  get publicity. He was a  
master at that.

He was also a wise-guy figure to many who met him casually. He could  
be acerbic to fans and musicians alike. So I think we need to read  
between the lines whenever we see a Condon quote.

He also felt that "Dixieland" was too limiting a word. He, Wild Bill  
Davison and others in his groups did not want to be called "Dixieland  
Musicians". Almost like some today who feel that the word is either  
somehow degrading or somewhat limiting.

Those of us who knew Condon, and most of the musicians that played  
with him at his 3rd Street joint, will remember that his music was, in  
spite of what he said above,  indeed formulaic. And that most, if not  
all of it was Dixieland, whether he called it that or not. Basically  
because the audience kept coming back to hear Dixieland. And Condon,  
to make a living, played all the old chestnuts, Tin Roof, Muscrat,  
Wolverine, Clarinet Marmalade etc., etc., etc. But in those first 15  
years or so, there was nothing around as exciting as the music at his  
joint.

By 1960 or so, his music was less exciting. The group members were  
aging. If you ask Bob Wilber, I think he will tell you that Condon's  
music had by then become  the usual structured Dixieland, very  
patterned, and one reason Wilber left the band for greener and more  
creative pastures.

I think the main reason Buck Clayton worked and toured with Condon in  
the early 1960s is the fact that Condon provided paying gigs at a time  
when gigs were hard to get. Especially for swing musicians like Buck  
Clayton and Vic Dickenson. (Don't ever underestimate the power  money  
exerts on a working musician. <grin>)

Plus Condon had heard Conrad Janis' band, nearby, which had  
successfully mixed black mainstream players into a New Orleans Revival  
Band, producing great music. So it was natural for him to seek out   
Clayton, or vice versa. One playing for the money to eat, and the  
other trying to rejuvenate a band sound. The resulting sound was a  
nice mix, with good music, but IMO, not anywhere near as exciting as  
the music that was produced at Condon's, live, in the 1950s.

The Mosaic Re-issue of Condon groups from the 1950s, which was  
discussed on the DJML a while back merely hints at how great the music  
was at the club. But it clearly shows that what Condon was playing was/ 
is called Dixieland. And I know I have heard him refer to what he was  
playing on a CD re-issue as "Modern Dixieland".

Cheers,
Steve Barbone
www.myspace.com/barbonestreetjazzband