Sandy Brown Jazz

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Jazz As Art

Eddie Condon

That's A Plenty

When you listen to music, you sometimes conjure images in your mind. Our Jazz As Art series invites you to listen to a piece of jazz and as it plays, scroll down the page and see which of the pieces of art I have chosen comes closest to the pictures in your mind. Hopefully, this will introduce you to recordings and art works you might not have spent time with before.

Eddie Condon

In 1942, guitarist and band leader Eddie Condon began staging concerts in New York City, with Carnegie Hall and Town Hall as venues. 'By 1944, the performances were sold out. In 1944, the Blue Network began broadcasting the concerts, which The Directory of the Armed Forces Radio Service Series described as "Jazz music of a high standard". The broadcasts began "about eight performances into the series". The program typically began with a jazz song, after which Condon commented on the song and introduced the band's members. The network described the programs as "the only unrehearsed, free-wheeling, completely barefoot music on the air." Condon was the program's host, with broadcasts featuring what the Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings called "many of the era's greatest musicians". Among them was singer Lee Wiley, described in the encyclopedia as "a near-regular" on the show. The broadcasts found Condon "surrounded by the greatest names in jazz—Louis Armstrong, Jack Teagarden, Willie “The Lion” Smith and Bob Haggart." '

In this recording (from the Town Hall Concerts 9 & 10 album) the musicians included Max Kaminsky (trumpet); Jonah Jones (trumpet); Ernie Caceres (saxophone); Pee Wee Russell (clarinet); Gene Schroeder (piano); Willie "The Lion" Smith (piano); Bob Haggart (bass); George Wettling (drums); Edmond Hall (clarinet); Bobby Hackett (trumet, cornet) and Benny Morton (trombone).

Play the tune, scroll down through the paintings and see what you think.

(I think this only really works if you spend time with each painting or scroll through them a few times)