[Dixielandjazz] Dukes of Dixieland

[Stephen G Barbone]

On Jul 22, 2011, at 6:57 PM, Marek Boym wrote:

>> Barbone wrote:
>> There was no comparable jazz experience for me than opening the  
>> door at
>> Condon's and having that music hit you in the face. The energy was,  
>> and
>> still is unmatched by any other band worldwide, IMO. It was some of  
>> the most
>> exciting jazz I ever heard.
>
> It cntinued with the "New" Eddie Condon's, run by ReEd Balaban.  The
> band I heard there, with Ed Polcer, Vic Dickenson, Jack Mahew, a
> pianist whose name I don't recall at  the moment, Red Balaban on bass
> and guitar, and Joe Morello on drums was among the best I have heard
> (live, that is).  Much hotter than in the joint on the other side of
> the street.

No doubt the music at the new Condon's was hotter than at the joint  
across the street, BUT, it was no where near as hot as the music at  
the 3rd Street Condon's when the originals were playing there. I think  
Polcer will tell you that today.

Had you asked Jack Maheu about it when you were there, he would have  
said something like this: (direct quote-as he talked about Condon's on  
3rd Street and in other clubs during the 1940s and 50s.)

"If you could only have heard it back then. You'd open the door to  
some little club where those guys - Eddie and some of his cronies -  
were playing. And that music would hit you like a fist, a blast of  
superheated steam. It was powerful. I mean lots of guys today play  
well, but back then there was something else - in Pee Wee, Wild Bill,  
Jack Teagarden, George Wettling . . . .The records? Yeah some of them  
capture it a bit - but you should have heard what it sounded like  
live, You wouldn't have believed your ears. It was the most  
emotionally powerful kind of jazz I've ever heard. But that's gone now"

List mates who were there at the time no doubt fully understand what I  
am talking about. No band today, or even after Condopn's joint closed,  
captures what the Condon's groups did. The energy of his various 3rd  
Street bands starting with the competition between Wild Bill and  
George Brunies to see who could play hotter and louder shortly after  
the joint opened is just not in the repertoire of todays bands.

Much like the west coast bands that try and reprise Yerba Buena. They  
have the arrangements, and the instrumentation but they don't have the  
fire. Those who heard Yerba Buena live, know just how LOUDLY that band  
played.

Today, many OKOM musicians seem to think that loud is bad. But then, I  
remember  playing in Kenny Butterfield's band circa 1959. Kenny's dad,  
Charlie was a sometimes jazz trombonist, but mainly a studio guy to  
make a living. He'd bring players like Miff Mole, etc to our gigs.

One time he brought Yank Lawson who sat in. So here I was in the front  
line with him and our trombonist at the time, Lee Gifford.(Lee was a  
high note, high energy trombonist often in the bands at Nick's) When  
those two guys started to play, I could hardly hear myself. Lawson  
with no effort at all, knew how to project his sound. Gifford too,  
though he exerted more effort. They were LOUD and they swung their  
asses off.

Since that time, and having previously heard WBD and Brunies, I  
resolved to play louder and went to Davern to try and learn how. All  
the while wondering why so many players today think loud is bad. <grin>